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THE SAN DIEGO GARDEN FAIR 







"VIEW OF THE EXPOSITION FROM BALBOA PARK 



THE SAN DIEGO 
GARDEN FAIR 

PERSONAL IMPRESSIONS 

OF THE ARCHITECTURE, SCULPTURE 

HORTICULTURE, COLOR SCHEME 

& OTHER AESTHETIC ASPECTS 

oft/be PANAMA CALIFORNIA 

INTERNATIONAL 

EXPOSITION 

By 

\xU- EUGEN NEUHAUS 

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF 

DECORATIVE DESIGN, UNIVERSITY OF 

CALIFORNIA • AUTHOR OF THE ART OF THE 

EXPOSITION an^ THE GALLERIES 

OF THE EXPOSITION 



PAUL ELDER AND COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS. SAN FRANCISCO 



COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY 

PAUL ELDER & COMPANY 

SAN FRANCISCO 



..4'^V'^ 

'^V^ 



MAR 27 1916 

€)CI,A428272 



To the memory of 
Father Junipero Serra 
and to his fellow pioneers whose saintly devotion 
and dauntless courage established Christi- 
anity and civilization in California 
March J, igi6 



Publisher s Announcement 

The great success of the two hooks hy Mr. Neuhaus 
on the Panama-Pacific International Exposition 
at San Francisco last year and the continuation 
of the Panama California International Expo- 
sition at San Diego into the year igi6 were the 
direct causes of this book, which it is hoped will he 
received with the same generous appre- 
ciation as the others 
March i, igi6 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION . xi 

The setting, the first impression. 

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND .... 3 

The romantic events and adventures of the early days of 
California. 

THE GENEALOGY OF THE ARCHITECTURE 14 

The influences which contribute toward the Exposition 
architecture. 

THE BUILDINGS .25 

The interrelations of the ensemble and the color scheme. 

THE GARDEN ASPECTS 59 

The horticultural and other outdoor features. 

APPENDIX ............ 77 

Biographical notes. The ground plan and guide. 



[vn] 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING PAGE ^ 

View of the Exposition from Balboa Park {Frontispiece) 

Mission San Diego de Alcald 6^ 

The California State Building 8^ 

The outer walls from the Palm Canon 10 '^ 

The Puente Cabrillo from below 12^^ 

Over the Puente Cabrillo towards the Exposition 14y^ 

The Entrance to the California Quadrangle ^^ / 

The Fagade of the California Building 18 

Along the Prado 20 "^ 

Window detail of the California Building 22 '^ 

Nightshade growing on the Arcade 26 "^ 

East Balcony in the Refectory of the California Building ... 28"^ 
Glimpse of the Montezuma Garden — the Tower of the Indian ^ 

Arts Building in the distance 32 

West Balcony in the Refectory of the California Building . . 34 

Patio within the Science and Education Building 36 

The Altar in the Serra Chapel 38 »^ 

The Commerce and Industries Building — the Laguna in the , 

foreground 40 "^^ 

The Food Products Building 42 "^ 

The Arcade of the Science and Education Building .... 44 '^ 
The Food Products Building from the Botanical Garden — the 

Lagunita in the foreground 46 "^ 

The Organ on the Plaza de los Estados 48 </, 

Decorative Flower Urns on the Prado 50 

The Towers of the Food Products Building on the Calle Cristobal 52 /^ 

The Fountain in the Botanical Garden 54 '^ 

The Pigeons on the Plaza de Panama 56 k 

The Southern California Counties Building 60 ^^ 

In the Patio of the Science and Education Building .... 62 i^ 

The Sacramento Valley Building 66 i^ 

A Path behind the Buildings 68 1/ 

The Food Products Building, seen from the rear of the Southern y 

California Counties Building 70 y 

The Pergola in the Botanical Garden 72 ^ 

The Pan Fountain 74 ^ 

Ground Plan of the Exposition 80/ 



[IX] 



INTRODUCTION 

THE San Diego Exposition has many times 
been spoken of as a little gem, and while this 
description may savor of the colloquial, it is the 
best possible complimentary characterization. A 
gem indeed it is, not alone for the lustre of its 
architecture but largely for the splendor of its set- 
ting, which gives it a most unique distinction 
among expositions past and recent. 

We observe here at San Diego for the first time 
a setting, a natural site, which on all sides gently 
and logically connects with the surrounding coun- 
try. In the olden days, and even yet in recent days, 
exposition sites have often been selected like the 
conventional baseball field, by choosing a remote 
and undesirable piece of land which held out no 
attractions other than those temporarily trans- 
planted. They seldom approached their immediate 
surroundings in a reverent and sympathetic way. 
In the old days it has too often been an ordeal to 
approach expositions — it seemed as if the most 
disreputable parts of towns — the slums — the 
most depressing sights of the town, had been 
selected to tune up the visitor in his approach for 
the more cesthetic sights within the gates. It has 
been that way with some of our recent expositions 
on the American continent, particularly where 
there was no other choice. 

Here in San Diego this is delightfully different 
— one does not even know where the Exposition 
really begins. An enchanting park, beginning 
almost in the heart of the city, stretches toward the 
Exposition, affording distant glimpses of the archi- 

[XI] 



INTRODUCTION 
lecture here and there, and if it were not for the 
ultimate unavoidable conventional turnstile, the 
physical boundaries of the Exposition would never 
disclose themselves to the expectant visitor. I had 
the feeling of being in the Exposition grounds long, 
long before the dropping of the obolus disillusioned 
me. There are no fences nor hedges — at least no 
visible boundary lines — to remind one of the 
physical separation of the Exposition and the city. 
Indeed there is none, and it is this novel condition 
which is so conducive to preserving one's mental 
equilibrium, which so often is disturbed after one 
has been pushed from the bleak outside into the 
presence of the wonders of an exposition. 

There is absolutely nothing startling about the 
San Diego Garden Fair. It is a haven of rest — 
a vast retreat — it acts like a tonic. The first 
glimpses one catches of its architectural aggregate, 
and particularly of the tower, are like a vision of 
romance. I thought of Maxfield Parrish and the 
thought never left me. Crowning a distant ridge, 
approached by a bridge of monumental proportions, 
one sees the unique architecture of the tower, the 
most successful architectural unit of the entire 
Exposition. Immediately adjoining and a part 
of the scheme, other light buildings lose themselves 
amidst the subtropical verdure of this amazing 
garden. The whole impression one gains is that 
of a vast private estate of an immensely rich 
Spanish grandee, rather than of a modern expo- 
sition. It is a sumptuous array — most impres- 
sive to the eye merely as a decorative feature. It 
has a distinct character which is due to the happy 
combination of a distinct type of architecture, 
reviving the resplendence of the Spanish-Mexican 

[XII] 



INTRODUCTION 

baroque and the more simple form of the Mission 
style of New Mexico and California^ both asso- 
ciated with the romantic events of the early history 
of America. 

Whatever one may call it historically, it may be 
said that many of the buildings seem very successful 
in the strictly historical impression they create. It is 
very difficult to believe that the charming paradise 
which holds the Exposition buildings at one time 
was a dry mesa — a tableland overgrown with 
chaparral and overrun by coyotes. One has to 
know what can be done with a southern Calif ornian 
climate and an abundance of water in order to 
appreciate the luxuriousness of that carpet of 
verdure which has been spread over the formerly 
barren hills. Fragrant with the penetrating odor 
of the acacias and the perfume of hundreds of 
flowers, these hills are a solid mass of every type 
of shrub and tree that grows in a salubrious climate. 

I know it is generally considered in poor taste 
to speak of climate in relation to California, but I 
cannot help but speak of the truly ideal weather 
conditions I encountered during my visits, both 
in May of igiS cind in January of igi6. Such 
skies and soft breezes — they are not the lot of 
mortals everywhere. No wonder the people at 
San Diego are optimistic enough to want to extend 
their Exposition into another year. Since it does 
not in any way interfere with the use of valuable 
properties needed for other purposes, let alone the 
continuance of the pleasure the Exposition affords, 
it would have been regrettable to have adhered to the 
original one-year plan. 



[ XIII ] 



THE SAN DIEGO GARDEN FAIR 



THE HISTORI CAL 
BACKGROUND 



THE physical remoteness of San Diego from 
the rest of the world and the lack of 
knowledge of the history of the extreme west so 
common with the general masses, make it almost 
imperative to point out a few of the more 
important facts in the very romantic history of 
this part of the world. Moreover, the rightful 
claims of San Diego to celebrate with such 
conspicuous success the completion of the 
Panama Canal are based on very interesting 
historical facts which go back to the discovery 
of the Isthmus and the many subsequent explo- 
rations which at last brought white settlement 
to San Diego. 

Four hundred and three years have passed 
since Balboa, on his westward journey, found 
himself barred from further marine exploration 
by the Isthmus of Panama. His achievement 
must be measured by the record of Columbus 
in his journey of 1492, about twenty years before 
him, in reaching the little island of San Salvador. 
In crossing the Isthmus Balboa looked down 
upon the placid blue waters of the Pacific 
Ocean, which he claimed, with all adjacent 
lands, as the property of His Majesty the 
Spanish King. It was a rather extravagant 
procedure, but the good Balboa was not restricted 
in his claim by the slightest knowledge of the 

[3] 



THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 

vastness of the ocean or the lands constituting 
its shore. It took some time, about another 
twenty years, before an expedition went to 
investigate the magnitude of Balboa's claim. 
They went north to see what these mythical 
properties were. A Portuguese, Juan Rodriguez 
Cabrillo, a man of adventurous mind, in the 
service of Spain, headed the party, and we learn 
from our historians that in the year 1542 he 
sailed into what is now San Diego harbor. For 
a long time it was called San Miguel, and not 
until many years after was the name San Diego 
given to it, a name it still holds. 

Early in the next century, in 1602, Vizcaino 
and his band formed the second party to run 
up the west coast of the North American con- 
tinent. For chronological comparison it may be 
stated that this was at a time before Samuel 
de Champlain carried the Lilies of France up 
the St. Lawrence and up the Richelieu into 
what is now American territory, exploring the 
lake which still bears his name. Vizcaino had 
even landed before Hudson carried the Dutch 
flag into New York harbor and before the 
English pilgrims landed at Plymouth and started 
the English colony in New England. In that 
way the history of the western coast had a very 
early beginning. 

Unfortunately the state of affairs in Spain in 
particular and in Europe in general was such as 
to give very little promise for the early develop- 
ment of these remote Spanish possessions. 
Internal dissensions and troubles in other colo- 
nies were the direct cause. Moreover, to make 
matters worse, extensive European wars con- 

[4] 



THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 

tributed to the delay, and it was not until 1769 
that a really important expedition left Mexico 
overland, with Portola in charge. While on 
former occasions these expeditions were made up 
of the most adventurous characters, Portola's 
expedition had the great good fortune of having 
as its member the inspired priest and energetic 
worker Fray Junipero Serra. 

Only a few years ago the citizens of San Diego 
wished to honor him by raising a giant cross 
made from the stone found in the crumbling 
ruins of the old mission which he had built and 
where he had sung the first mass in 1769. The 
committee in charge of the ceremonies was 
composed of people of all creeds, proving that 
not Catholic alone recognized the splendid spirit 
of that old Franciscan. The name of Cabrillo, 
the discoverer, we find perpetuated in bridges 
and plazas, but to Serra, the modest priest, the 
civilizer, are other monuments. These are the 
twenty-one Missions that line El Camino Real, 
the King's Highway, seven hundred miles — 
stretching from San Diego to Sonoma, north of 
San Francisco. His monuments are the palms, 
the olives, the ranches, the civilization of Cali- 
fornia and the far West. Junipero Serra had 
been an active soldier of the church since boy- 
hood. He was fifty-six years old when Spain 
decided to make use of the territory which had 
long been hers by right of discovery and which 
she was in danger of losing. Because of his 
labors in New Spain he was sent along with the 
soldiers to make permanent settlement in the 
new land at the north of which the discoverers 
had told. When the expedition was about to 

[5] 



THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 

Start he was delayed by an injury to his foot — 
an injury from which he never fully recovered. 
A party of soldiers sailed from La Paz on 
January 9, 1769, aboard the San Carlos, another 
aboard the San Antonio in February, and a 
third aboard the San Jose still later. This last 
one was never heard of again. On land, two 
parties set forth. The crippled priest blessed 
them as they left, and went back to his bed to 
await the healing of his foot, and only a few 
days later followed after them, to join Governor 
Portola. Two days after his arrival he wrote 
to a fellow priest at home : 

My Dear Friend and Sir: 

Thank God, I arrived the day before 
yesterday at this port of San Diego, truly a fine 
one and with reason famous. Here I found those 
who had set out before me, by sea as well as by 
land, except such as died on the way. The 
brethren. Fathers Crespi, Vizcaino, Parro, and 
Gomez, are here and with myself all well, thanks 
to God. Here also are two vessels, but the San 
Carlos is without seamen, all having died except 
one and the cook. The San Antonio, although she 
sailed a month and a half later, arrived, twenty 
days before the San Carlos; losing on the voyage 
eight seamen. 

In consequence of this loss the San Antonio will 
return to San Bias, to procure seamen for herself 
and the San Carlos. The causes of the delay of 
the San Carlos were, first, the lack of water, and 
second, the error in which all were respecting the 
situation of this port. They supposed it to be in 
thirty-three or thirty-four degrees north latitude, 

[6] 




MISSION SAN DIEGO DE ALCALA 



THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 

and strict orders were given Captain Vila and the 
rest to keep out in the open sea until they should 
arrive in thirty-four degrees, and then make the 
shore in search of the port. As, however, the port 
really lies in 52 degrees 43 minutes, according to 
observations which have now been made, they went 
far beyond the port, thus making the voyage much 
longer than was necessary. 

The people got daily worse from the cold and the 
bad water; and they must all have perished if they 
had not discovered the port about the time they did; 
for they were quite unable to launch the boat to 
procure more water, or to do anything whatever for 
their preservation. The Father Fernando did 
everything in his power to relieve the sick; and 
although he arrived much reduced in flesh he had 
not the disorder and is now well. We have not 
suffered hunger or privations, nor have the Indians 
who came with us. All have arrived fat and 
healthy. 

The tract through which we have passed is 
generally very good land, with plenty of water; 
and there as well as here the country is neither 
rocky nor overcome with brushwood. There are, 
however, many hills, but they are composed of 
earth. The road has been in many places good, 
but the greater part bad. About half way the 
valleys and banks of rivulets began to be delightful. 
We found vines of a large size and in some cases 
quite loaded with grapes. We also found abun- 
dance of roses, which appeared to be the same as 
those of Castile. In fine, it is a good country, and 
very different from that of Old California [meaning 
the Peninsula]. 

We have seen Indians in immense numbers, 

[7] 



THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 
and all those on this coast of the Pacific contrive to 
make a good subsistence on various seeds and by 
fishing. This they carry on by means of rafts or 
canoes made of tule [bullrush] by which they go a 
great way to sea. All the males, old and young, 
go naked. The women, however, and even the 
female children, were decently covered from their 
breasts downwards. We found in our journey, as 
well as in the places where we stopped, that they 
treated us with as much confidence and good will 
as if they had known us all their lives; but when 
we of ere d them any of our victuals they always 
refused them. All they cared for was cloth, and 
only for something of this sort would they exchange 
their fish or whatever else they had. 

From this port and intended mission of San 
Diego in northern California, 3rd July, 176Q, I 
kiss the hands of Your Reverence, and am your 
affectionate brother and servant. 

Fr. Junipero Serra. 

A story sometimes told is that the soldier 
members of his party turned out to be less 
worthy of reliance than one might have expected, 
and when the promised reinforcement did not 
arrive, they became weary and disheartened and 
ultimately demanded to be returned south. 
Fray Serra implored the leader for delay, with 
scant success, until things became rather critical. 
**One more day," was Father Serra's plea, and 
the day was reluctantly granted. It was all 
they were willing to give, and if no support 
should arrive after that day they would all go. 
In his great predicament Father Serra went to 
the crest of the hill back of the camp and prayed 

[8] 




THE CALIFORNIA STATE BUILDING 



THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 

all through the afternoon, until the golden rays 
of the setting sun began to lose their splendor. 
In despair he cast one more forlorn glance out 
upon the sea, and sure enough there was a sight 
which caused his sorrow to vanish. The next 
minute he was rushing down the hill into camp, 
shouting and weeping with joy. Back up the 
hills the soldiers dashed, and when they too saw 
that Father Serra's wish had been fulfilled, there 
was no more talk of immediate return, and when 
the relief expedition came into port, it turned 
out to be a large body who had lost their way, 
mistaking the charts. Cruising up and down 
the coast, they had looked in vain for the harbor. 
Naturally Father Serra, as a truly religious man, 
pronounced it a miracle, and if it really hap- 
pened that way, perhaps it was ! 

In this way the little settlement became per- 
manent. The little Mission which he had built 
at the Presidio hill was abandoned and several 
miles up the valley was founded the Mission of 
San Diego de Alcala — the first mission on 
California soil — on the sixteenth of July, 1769. 
This laid the foundation of that long chain of 
twenty-one missions which marks the progress 
of the northward march of the Christian civili- 
zation of the Franciscan padres. About every 
forty or fifty miles the missions grew up, to 
offer the weary wanderer a resting place after 
a full day's journey. 

The entire character of the Exposition, archi- 
tecturally speaking, is so intimately connected 
with the Missions of Mexico and California that 
even the barest outline of the growth and prog- 
ress of these peculiar centers of civilization is 

[9] 



THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 

of much assistance in doing justice to the 
romantic character of the San Diego Fair. 

The San Diego Mission was not allowed to 
enjoy an uninterrupted peaceful existence be- 
cause on a November night in 1775 a large and 
bloodthirsty band of interior Indians, about a 
thousand strong, attacked the Mission and set 
fire to the chapel and other buildings. During 
the attack Father Luis Jayme, a Franciscan, 
and a number of others were killed. While the 
buildings were burning Father Jayme, according 
to historical reports, is said to have walked 
right out to the wildest group of savages, extend- 
ing his usual greeting, "Children, love God!" 
The Indians allowed him to come within a few 
feet, and then riddled his body with arrows. 
They threw his body into a little olive orchard, 
which is still standing and bearing fruit. Within 
it today is a low wooden fence with a plain cross 
where sleeps the first Christian martyr of Cali- 
fornia. Down the valley stands the last of the 
palm trees which Serra set out, apparently good 
for many years to come. Almost in its shade 
sleep the Spanish soldiers who succumbed to 
the long wait for the relief party. 

When Father Serra returned from a northern 
journey, instead of being discouraged he set out 
with accustomed zeal rebuilding the Mission 
and then went on again to the north, founding 
more missions along El Camino Real, the King's 
Highway. He never returned. 

There is a great wealth of romance in history 
of that sort and when one studies the history of 
southern California, one finds that many fine 
traditions, the love of beauty, too, are a part of 

[10] 




THE OUTER WALLS FROM THE PALM CAiJON 



THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 

the old Spanish civilization. It was apparently 
the realization of that beauty, almost forgotten, 
which impelled the San Diego Exposition to 
revive in its architectural scheme not the con- 
ventional forms of classic traditional art so 
universally used at expositions, but the type 
peculiarly belonging to California and reaching 
back to the glorious period of its inception. 

Before allowing oneself the pleasure of his- 
torical analysis of the Spanish-Mexican style, a 
few more excursions into the field of the activities 
of the Spanish missionaries may be allowed, 
since a proper understanding of their own atmos- 
phere is so helpful in contemplating the beauty 
of the general character of the Exposition. It 
should be remembered that Father Serra's 
indomitable will power not only led to the 
establishment of the first Mission in California, 
but also laid the foundation for a general 
Christian civilization on the whole Pacific Coast. 
It was he who snatched from the darkness and 
ignorance of heathendom an entire savage race, 
lifting it into the light and intelligence of the 
civilization of Christianity. The story is all the 
more wonderful because of the fact that the 
Indians of California, when found by the Fran- 
ciscans in the year 1769, were really very 
degraded physical beings, and mentally apathetic 
human creatures. A more hopeless task was 
never attempted by the agencies of religion and 
civilization, yet the results were astounding 
when one bears in mind the difference of lan- 
guage which had to be overcome — a different 
dialect in almost every village. Most of these 
Indians had never learned to clothe themselves. 

[11] 



THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 

Their physical and moral habits were filthy, and 
they were saved from annihilation only by the 
kindness of the climate in which they lived. 
From this pathetic material the Franciscan 
monks made semi-civilized men and women. 
They taught them to sing, to play upon musical 
instruments, to carve in wood and paint pictures. 
The most important result of this relatively 
short period of instruction was the making of 
the Indian into an agriculturalist of more settled 
habits. 

These diversified activities were the purely 
secondary gifts of these brown-robed Fran- 
ciscans, who were first of all the able agents of 
the Spanish crown, assisting in political plans of 
territorial expansion, and who were looked upon 
by the government in the many other things 
they did along the line of domestic arts and 
sciences as means to the end. The earliest days 
of the Franciscan Fathers in California were the 
great days of the Catholic church in Europe, and 
whatever was done for the colonial expansion 
of the Spanish possessions was done also in the 
name of the Church. The spread of political 
influence was, however, the moving force, and 
to convert the heathen, like everything else, 
must be looked upon as incidental. Never- 
theless the activities of the soldiers, colonists, 
and padres in the early days constitute the 
historical background of the west coast of this 
great continent and form also the exclusive basis 
and romantic foundation of the San Diego 
Exposition. 

The entire display reflects the Spanish Colo- 
nial style, of which the Missions of Fray Juni- 

[12] 




THE PUENTE CABRILLO FROM BELOW 



THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 

pero Serra were one type. The San Diego 
Exposition, open all the year around, thanks to 
a climate that is practically unchanging, has a 
great amount of the practical, but it is rich in 
romance and historical association. 



[13] 



THE GENEALOGY OF 
THE ARCHITECTURE 



THE architectural style of the San Diego 
Exposition is generally referred to as either 
the Mission Style or the Spanish-Mexican. To 
most people the meaning of that so-called 
"Mission Style" is very vague, and I do not 
believe that much systematic education of our 
people has ever been attempted to set right in 
their minds the true meaning of this much 
abused term. To a great many it is an original 
product of California, absolutely detached from 
any style of the past — to others a recent pro- 
duction of the Stickley Brothers furniture plant. 
On closer investigation it presents, however, such 
fascinating genealogy that I am tempted to lose 
myself in it for a while, because I believe it will 
very materially assist in an aesthetic appre- 
ciation of the Exposition ensemble, and also 
lead back into the realms of the Spanish-Mexican 
style, of which it is an offshoot. 

It is not fair, in my estimation, to use the 
word "style" in connection with the architectural 
efforts of the Spanish padres, since their work 
was not the evolution of an original architectural 
expression. First of all, these men were no 
architects, nor even men of special artistic per- 
ception, their efforts in building being directed 
solely towards the erection of a shelter. These 
structures were of profound simplicity in them- 

[14] 




OVER THE PUENTE CABRILLO TOWARDS THE EXPOSITION 



THE GENEALOGY OF THE ARCHITECTURE 

selves and curiously devoid of the heavy orna- 
mentation of the parent style — the Spanish 
Colonial of Mexico, from which they were 
directly derived. This intimate connection with 
a gorgeously decorative style may seem impos- 
sible at first glance, since the most pronounced 
characteristic of the Spanish Colonial style is a 
luxurious ornateness, suggesting at times great 
splendor, while the frugality of the Mission 
style revives memories of the very earliest 
architectural efforts of prehistoric times in its 
restriction to simple constructive forms and 
absolute lack of ornamentation. But this appar- 
ent inconsistency can be explained only by the 
fact that these monks were no architects and 
that all they could do was to produce a very 
feeble picture of the glory of the Spanish Colonial 
style, with its rich background, of which we 
shall hear more. These Missions are but a very 
naive attempt, at best unpretentious and un- 
affected. But it is this naivete — the lack of 
knowledge of the truly artistic features of the 
parent style — which is their saving grace. 

The day will come, and I hope it is not too 
far off, when we out here shall use money liber- 
ally to restore to their old naive dignity these 
memorials of one of the most romantic periods 
in the history of California, if not of America. 
I hope that the day of the California Mission 
Restoration Committee, free from politics, with 
sufficient money, and composed of the best 
architectural talent in the land, may not be 
postponed too long to rebuild more solidly than 
ever these twenty-one centers of Christian civi- 
lization. Situated, as they are, on salubrious 

[IS] 



THE GENEALOGY OF THE ARCHITECTURE 

elevated places, often overlooking the fertile 
valleys leading into the back country, they 
would become increasingly attractive and a 
source of great wealth to the State. To travel 
up and down the state and observe the spas- 
modic attempts at often incorrect restoration is 
only a mixed joy, and nothing less than a well- 
organized attempt will ever insure the rebuilding 
of these quaint and picturesque landmarks. 

It would be so easy, technically speaking, 
with our modern improved methods of concrete 
construction, to set up again the crumbling 
adobe walls with reasonable guarantee of their 
permanency. The money spent in the two 
California expositions would have gone a long 
way in the realization of this project. No 
complicated mosaics of problematical meaning 
nor intricate glass windows need be revived, 
because these buildings were singularly devoid 
of the detail which makes Old World styles so 
difficult of restoration. This simplicity was 
probably not intentional, but rather the result 
of enforced artistic economy, for lack of skilled 
artisans and artists. However, here and there 
an altar piece tells of vague recollections of the 
boldness of the gorgeous Spanish Baroque deco- 
ration which the artist carried into Mexico and 
which we see so notably interpreted in the Serra 
chapel of the California Building. 

The Mission style is a simple, purely con- 
structive expression of the ornate glories of the 
Spanish colonial, but as far from the sumptu- 
ousness of the original as a wooden toy horse is 
from a real live animal. The barest construc- 
tive features have been preserved, and the rest 

[16] 




THE ENTRANCE TO THE CALIFORNIA QUADRANGLE 



THE GENEALOGY OF THE ARCHITECTURE 

had to be omitted, by force of circumstances. 
Even constructively, the height of the great 
towers of the Mexican churches is nowhere vis- 
ible in any of the Missions, because to build 
high is possible only when engineering advice 
is available, and engineers the padres were not. 
Most of their towers did not survive the spas- 
modic earthquakes of California. 

Reaching backward to the great edifices of 
the Spanish-Mexican period, one is astonished 
at the wealth of variety of architectural influ- 
ence which manifests itself in these buildings. 
Imaginative in form, full of the most wonderful 
detail, they revive in our minds the glories of 
many great periods of the past. All the many 
influences which were active at one time in 
Spain and which stamped the indelible marks 
of their art on that country are suggested — 
particularly the Moorish-Arabic strain, which 
left so many picturesque landmarks in Spain. 
Back of these Mexican buildings is almost the 
entire history of architecture, owing to very 
peculiar conditions which prevailed in Europe 
at the time of their production. Baroque, 
that florid and sometimes degenerate expression 
of the revival of the classic Greek and Roman 
architecture, was at its height in Europe during 
the great days of the Spanish world empire, and 
in the search for the decorative material in 
which it abounds it made use, particularly in 
Spain, of all the many decorative features which 
it could draw upon in Europe as well as in the 
Orient. The Byzantine influence, simplified in 
the great St. Sophia of Constantinople, is often 
manifest. Built under the European Justinian, 

[17] 



THE GENEALOGY OF THE ARCHITECTURE 

during the sixth century, originally as a place of 
Christian worship, this great Byzantine temple, 
still one of the chief wonders of the world, has 
served to inspire many of the Spanish-Mexican 
builders. Its really simple form of construction, 
consisting of a great central dome resting on 
four mighty arches, has found its way into the 
fundamental form of the California State Build- 
ing. Even that peculiar indefinable creation, 
St. Mark's in Venice, has left its impression 
upon the architecture of Mexico. 

Overrun by the Moors in the eighth century^ 
Spain suffered the introduction of an Oriental 
note in its European architecture which gave it 
a character unique among the nations of Europe. 
So firm was the hold of these invading Moors 
that they long controlled the artistic civilization 
of Spain. Establishing capitals or seats of 
government at convenient places, their most 
formidable creation was the fortified palace at 
Granada. Eventually, in 1492, by the capture 
of this stronghold the Spanish regained posses- 
sion of their land, destroying Moorish rule but 
not Moorish art. The praying towers the 
Moors built with their mosques were the chief 
charm of their imaginative architecture, and the 
Giralda at Seville is recognized as one of the 
great towers of the continent. Many towers 
were built in Spain and Mexico, finally culmi- 
nating for us in San Diego in that successful 
emphasis of the Exposition in the tower of the 
California Building. The colored tile so typical 
of the Spanish colonial is traceable to the Moors, 
who were fond of the liberal use of this highly 
decorative material. Another typical note of 

[18] 








THE FAgADE Of THE CALIFORNIA BUILDING 



THE GENEALOGY OF THE ARCHITECTURE 

Arabic work was their great simple expanses of 
plain wall surfaces, broken only here and there, 
as need demanded, but always most pictur- 
esquely emphasized by windows, great and 
small. The mosques in Algiers show these 
characteristics very plainly. There is no end to 
Moorish influence. Attention should be called 
to the fine carved doors of the California Build- 
ing. The Moors were very skillful in this handi- 
craft, and the character of their work has been 
given to this interesting door. Again, the clever 
use of water in picturesque bits in connection 
with their architecture was another charming 
asset. The pool in front of the Botanical Build- 
ing carries out this unusual detail, as we shall 
later see, with striking results. 

At the time of the conquest of the Moors, at 
the end of the fifteenth century, the Renaissance 
had blossomed into full bloom in Italy and its 
influence was being felt throughout Europe. 
The Gothic influence, never very strong in the 
south of Europe, found an expression in Spain 
in that luxurious style called the Flamboyant. 
The Gateway at Valladolid is a good example 
of it. It was only too natural that when the 
Spanish revived building operations in New 
Spain, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, 
their work should follow the newly felt Renais- 
sance, retaining, however, much of the Moorish 
and Gothic. This combination, beautiful in the 
extreme, has been caUed the "Plateresque,'' that 
is, the Silversmith's, on account of its lacy 
qualities. It prevailed until the accession of 
Philip the Second, in the middle of the sixteenth 
century, and cropped out occasionally after- 

[19] 



THE GENEALOGY OF THE ARCHITECTURE 

wards. One of the most beautiful buildings in 
this delicately membered style is the Hospital 
of Santa Cruz at Toledo — a rare balancing of 
proportion and graceful detail. This we see 
recalled in the Foreign Arts Building. At this 
time magnificent churches were being built in 
Mexico, very much in keeping with the Plater- 
esque. In a measure the tower of the California 
Cathedral recalls somewhat the fine towers of 
the Cathedral at Morelia, Mexico, built in this 
style. Another striking example of the early 
Spanish Renaissance we meet with in the window 
of the Prado Facade of the Science and Educa- 
tion Building. The detail of the windows is 
taken, though somewhat changed, from the 
tower of the cathedral at Murcia, and it shows 
how much simpler the Renaissance became as 
it developed in Spain. 

The corner tower of the Home Economy 
Building comes a little later in the sequence of 
the Spanish Renaissance. It was adapted from 
the Tower of the Casa de Monterey at Sala- 
manca, Spain. This building may be called a 
good example of the middle period of the Spanish 
Renaissance, celebrated for the activities in 
Spain of the architect Churriguera, who intro- 
duced a personal note into the style which has 
become recognized as the Churrigueresque. It 
is analogous to the Baroque in France and Italy. 
If analyzed closely from an architectural point 
of view, it often seems bad and degenerate, like 
other Baroque, but one cannot deny its force 
and sometimes great beauty of form and pro- 
portion. The Churrigueresque prevailed during 
the great building periods in Mexico during the 

[20] 




ALONG THE PRADO 



THE GENEALOGY OF THE ARCHITECTURE 

seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It was 
often combined with Moorish and native Mexi- 
can details, assuming a most unique character. 
The Sanctuary, a part of the Cathedral in the 
City of Mexico, is generally considered the lead- 
ing example. Turning to the Exposition we 
have a tame form of this style in the north 
frontispiece of the Indian Arts Building, on the 
Prado. Another more elaborate example may 
be seen in the frontispiece of the Science and 
Education Building, on the Plaza de Panama. 
The south front of the Varied Industries Build- 
ing, typical of the style in its most ornamented 
form, recalls the patio of St. Augustine at 
Queretaro, Mexico, built in the middle of the 
eighteenth century, one of the latest examples 
and one of the most ornate and undisciplined. 
Again we recognize the ornate chapel fagade on 
the adjoining building — the Food Products — 
as another of the many reflections of this style, 
remarkable for its variety, boldness, and disre- 
gard for conservatism. 

It would be interesting merely to outline, even, 
the influence of the Franciscan order upon the 
architecture of Italy, Spain, and Mexico, and 
finally upon the American Southwest. Space 
will not permit this pleasure, and it will be 
sufficient to say that the influence of these quiet 
preachers was toward simplicity and stability. 
In Mexico one of the most important examples 
of what might be called the Franciscan style is 
the Sanctuario de Guadalajara, a building which 
strongly influenced the Franciscan Missions in 
California. The simple east front of the Indian 
Arts Building is in the same style, even to the 

[21] 



THE GENEALOGY OF THE ARCHITECTURE 

dissimilar treatment of the bell- tower. The 
tower at the west side of this building belongs 
to the same period. Growing out of this style, 
then, we have the California Missions, with 
which most Californians are familiar. 

Bearing in mind all this rich store of historical 
reminiscence, one must claim for the San Diego 
Exposition that it is unlike any that preceded 
it — a claim which becomes justified when one 
considers that it marks a new departure in the 
planning of fairs. All past Expositions, like 
those held in Chicago in 1893, recreated a type 
which had been used universally and which goes 
back to the first successful great Exposition, that 
of 1889 at Paris. The plan of this Paris Expo- 
sition consisted largely of a symmetrical and 
monumental arrangement of buildings. How- 
ever, the Chicago fair gave American architects 
a new impetus by showing the effects of long 
rows of orderly colonnades, of large open spaces, 
and in general by a demonstration of the monu- 
mental that was quite new in this country. The 
general scheme at Chicago developed a succes- 
sion of similarly planned fairs, of which the 
Pan-American at Buffalo and that at St. Louis 
were the most characteristic. All of these Expo- 
sitions were reminiscent of the prize problems 
of the Beaux Arts School at Paris, and one can- 
not help coming to the conclusion that there was 
much of the paper design, of T-square and 
triangle character, about these buildings, in 
comparison with such uniquely shaped aggre- 
gates as at San Diego. The influence of these 
great past Expositions becomes immediately 
evident in the grouping of our public buildings 

[22] 




WINDOW DETAIL OF THE CALIFORNIA BUILDING 



THE GENEALOGY OF THE ARCHITECTURE 

in and around a central public square. They 
laid the foundation for our first attempts in 
municipal city planning, as expressed by the 
Civic Center. The note of intimacy, the proper 
relation to the immediate surroundings, is not 
always in evidence in these monumental arrange- 
ments, and a comparison with the city picture 
of the San Diego Exposition will disclose the 
more intimate side of city planning, the b3rways 
with their fountains, the glimpses of secluded 
gardens through the arches of colonnades. The 
Chicago, St. Louis, and Buffalo Expositions 
were a glorification of the monumental in city 
planning, while at San Diego is the apotheosis 
of all those elements of charm and variety that 
we associate with the cities of Spain and Italy. 
Here is the varied symmetry of the Latin cities, 
in the glorification of the romantic in city 
planning. 

Architecturally the style of our fairs in the 
past had no native significance. Our own 
American architectural inheritance had not 
heretofore yielded anything when expositions 
were built. The Colonial style is too much 
devoid of the monumental, and besides, its quiet 
soberness does not contain that festive element 
one looks for on occasions of rejoicing. So we 
had to turn to strictly European sources, and 
that meant often to French books. When the 
Panama-California Exposition was first under 
consideration, it was only too natural that 
popular feeling should have suggested the Mis- 
sions of California. But the opinion of the 
Advising Architect suggested that, in spite of 
its undeniable charms, this style was entirely 

[23] 



THE GENEALOGY OF THE ARCHITECTURE 

too limited in its decorative resources. The 
Spanish-Colonial style of Mexico, of which our 
Missions are an outgrowth, was then decided 
upon, not only because of its historical signi- 
ficance in California, but because it is most 
suited to the climate, and also has all the gaiety 
and color so essential to the success of a fair. 
This question of appropriateness in the choice 
of an architectural style for an exposition has 
seldom been taken into account before, either 
in our own country or in Europe. There have 
been some incidental exceptions at some of our 
modern Italian expositions, but nowhere has 
a historical style been so consistently main- 
tained as at San Diego by the use of the Spanish- 
Mexican style of architecture — the most glo- 
rious temperamental architectural expression to 
be found on the American continent. 



[24] 



THE BUILDINGS 



AN investigation of the artistic features of 
the Exposition will naturally begin with 
the great bridge — the Puente Cabrillo. How- 
ever, before indulging in any enjoyment of this 
structure, one naturally at this point becomes 
interested in the plan of the Exposition, antici- 
pating the opportunity of seeing the entire lay- 
out later on from the bold perspective of the 
tower. Expositions in recent years have become 
so readily the experimenting media of the imagi- 
native city planner, that here in San Diego one 
has the feeling of a successfully attempted dem- 
onstration of a well-planned city. It is this fea- 
ture which has given modern expositions a value 
which they did not possess in the old days and 
which sometimes atones in a measure for the 
lack of permanent features most expositions un- 
fortunately show. 

The arrangement at San Diego is not sym- 
metrical, owing to the undulating nature of the 
country on which the fair is built, a site which 
offers certain physical points of emphasis. So 
we find that beginning with a straight east-west 
axis, in which the great Cabrillo Bridge partici- 
pates, we have about in the middle a traversing 
minor axis of different lateral length on either 
side. It is very interesting, and almost neces- 
sary to one's orientation, to fix that plan in one's 

[25] 



THE BUILDINGS 

mind. The general character of the ensemble is 
so compact and well defined that a digest of the 
Exposition plan does not offer half the usual 
difficulties. The Exposition has two entrances, 
east and west. Originally the east entrance was 
intended to be the main entrance, owing to its 
superior transportation facilities, connecting it 
directly with the city over a very interesting 
tree-lined route. But now this main entrance, 
curiously enough, has become the main exit, and 
the great Cabrillo Bridge, over the canon by the 
same name, has become the well-established 
principal entrance of the Exposition. The 
reasons for this change are purely aesthetic, since 
nobody cares to be introduced into the circle of 
a charming family by way of the kitchen and 
utility end of the house. On the east are all the 
utility features — Fire House, Hospital, Res- 
taurant — while on the west an ideal and unob- 
structed approach invites a generous and 
comprehensive view of the great Spanish walled 
city on the hills. It shows how aesthetic reasons 
will sometimes conquer practical ones, even in 
a country universally defamed as a land of sober 
realists. 

The sumptuous proportions, the proud dignity 
of the bridge, encourage great expectations, and 
one is not disappointed. While admiration is 
aroused for the engineering skill which made this 
bridge possible, the thought persists that the 
real architect of this colossal concrete viaduct 
was a much higher power than the official engi- 
neer. The one who raised the mountains, who 
dictates the course of streams, and who governs 
the cosmic all — he it was who separated the 

[26] 




NIGHTSHADE GROWING ON THE ARCADE 



THE BUILDINGS 

two ridges which are connected by this typica 
piece of American concrete engineering. Its 
most impressive feature, after all, is its size, 
since neither engineer nor architect nor even 
decorative designer ever endowed this bridge 
with anything but its mere constructive charm. 
This ought to be entirely enough, and any 
aesthetic appeal made by mere constructive form 
is far more lasting and impressive than the 
superimposed beauty of architectural ornamen- 
tation. However, in the case of the Puente 
Cabrillo it does not seem quite enough, particu- 
larly after retracing one's steps from the 
ornateness of the Exposition proper to which 
the bridge leads. I feel the engineer should 
have yielded his work to the architectural 
designer, who might have enlivened the some- 
what cold and untemperamental viaduct in more 
than one way without disturbing its big feeling. 
From below the top seems unfinished — no 
evidence of a raihng or perforation of the edge 
by means of a balustrade, nothing to indicate 
the scale of the many human beings who traverse 
daily this seven-arched span. I am glad for the 
seven arches. Nothing is more disturbing than 
the definiteness of even numbers as compared 
with the suggestion of indefiniteness which comes 
with uneven numbers. Seven looks like more 
than just one more than six, and in the higher 
uneven numbers this is even more indicated. 
This may have something to do with the fact 
that things in even numbers we count in pairs, 
but the seven arches of the Puente Cabrillo we 
count one by one. How one span might have 
looked is worth thinking about. It would have 

[27] 



THE BUILDINGS 

been even more impressive as an engineering 
feature and besides have given less the feehng, 
particularly from a distance, that the bridge 
might be a dam. It is an interesting feature of 
this bridge that it encourages one to mental 
speculation as to what might be the result if 
this, that, or the other thing might be done with 
it. From below I longed for a few hundred feet 
of open balustrade to interrupt the almost 
monotonous straight edge of the top, which, if 
I had not known its purpose, I would have taken 
for an aqueduct. While I respect constructive 
charm above everything else, a trace of orna- 
ment, even of color, would have gone a long way 
towards tying bridge and exposition proper 
together. It is a little naked, and only the 
warm sun of San Diego will save it from 
monotony with the fine play of strong cast 
shadows within its arches. 

The slow approach over the bridge, owing to 
its great length of one thousand feet, is helpful 
in getting one's mind adjusted to the peculiar 
charm of the first great group of buildings one 
meets. One enjoys also the plain buttressed 
wall, rising from the slopes of the hills. The 
effect is that of a fortified mediaeval town. 
However, the gateway to the inner parts is not 
guarded by huge iron doors and halberdiers, and 
one saunters along unchallenged into the Quad- 
rangle. Here a few remarks should be made 
about the main gate, with its typical architec- 
ture. The crest of San Diego in the middle and 
the spandrel figures give it more than usual 
interest. The treatment of this main entrance 
is most interesting, with its passageway travers- 

[28] 




EAST BALCONY IN THE REFECTORY OF THE CALIFORNIA BUILDING 



THE BUILDINGS 

ing the arch, and the charming note of the 
window. The administration building, Hke a 
guardhouse, is to the left, in front of the gate. 
Set in a mass of trees and shrubs, with ornate 
emphasis upon the doorway, it has the plain 
character of the typical Spanish-Moorish resi- 
dence. The windows, in contrast to the door- 
way, seem just as if cut out with a knife. The 
main door is enlivened by well-scaled ornamen- 
tation, full of variety of scrolls, arabesques, and 
dolphins. But one does not want to linger out- 
side — the great dome and tower are too strong 
in one's mind, since in the approach one con- 
tinually enjoyed a full view of it, and one feels 
its near presence with overwhelming force. 

Passing through the main gate and under the 
brown beams of the traversing corridor, one 
stands captivated by the great beauty of the 
California Building. When I saw it first I did 
not care to know of its purpose. I was spell- 
bound by the historical atmosphere it imme- 
diately created, and by the feeling that here was 
something immensely successful in every way. 
I felt the excellence of the structure, which was 
so well suggested from a distance by reason of 
its wonderful outline, and which is well sustained 
even in the smallest structural detail. One feels 
that technical excellence could not very well be 
carried much further, and after a study of the 
remainder of the Exposition, one cannot help 
feeling that this great cathedral is the piece de 
resistance of the Exposition. It is immensely 
gratifying to come to that conclusion, for two 
reasons. First, it is the most conspicuous unit 
of the Exposition from any point of view, and 

[29] 



THE BUILDINGS 

if the first impression counts for anything, the 
effect of the CaKfornia Building upon the visitor 
in his further wanderings will be helpful. More- 
over, the Cathedral and the Tower, in fact the 
entire group of buildings forming what is called 
the California Quadrangle, are of permanent 
material, built of concrete over steel frames. It 
is thoroughly pleasing to feel that here is a most 
successful historical monument, destined by 
reason of its enduring worth and material to 
inspire generations to come. It seems like blas- 
phemy to call it anything but a cathedral, 
because its character is purely ecclesiastical and 
devoid of any suggestion of worldly use, even if 
one knows that a very remarkable display of 
archaeological specimens, dealing with the archi- 
tecture of South and Central America, will give 
way temporarily this year to the alluring charms 
of an exhibition of French industrial and artistic 
accomplishments. How a display of Poiret 
gowns and bottled perfumes will adjust them- 
selves inside I do not know, and I care less — a 
cathedral it is to me, full of romantic historical 
notes. 

The most conspicuous feature of the whole 
building, after one has absorbed the gay beauty 
of the tiled dome and the rhythmic charm of that 
tapering tower, is the decorative emphasis of the 
doorway. It is an amazing piece of architec- 
tural modelling, convincing one at once of the 
profound knowledge of the creator of this monu- 
ment, Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue. Mr. Good- 
hue had a blessed day when he designed that 
doorway, and another good day it was when he 
selected the Piccirillis to model the ornamental 

[30] 



THE BUILDINGS 

and figural detail. The immediate impression 
one has is of picturesqueness and impressiveness 
aKke. While one has the feeling that there is 
much to study on dome as well as on tower, one 
is spellbound by the luxurious richness of the 
ornamentation of the frontispiece, which has a 
most unusual quality of superb technical execu- 
tion, so rarely found in this country. The 
period ornamentation so often met with in repro- 
duction in this country is generally unenjoyable 
on account of its poor quality of workmanship ; 
it is apparently done with little understanding 
of the origin of the ornament motives or their 
function. This is particularly so in the case of 
the purely decorative styles, like Rococo or 
Baroque, where looseness often becomes undis- 
ciplined and coarse and devoid of all regard for 
the underlying constructive forms. It was 
sometimes that way in Europe during the 
decadence of these styles, but here in America 
it has been entirely too common whenever a 
revival of a historic style has been attempted. 
The decorative emphasis of the main entrance 
of the California Building is a marvel of work- 
manship and one rejoices over and over at the 
knowledge of the permanence of so fine and 
historical a document — one of the very finest 
in the far west. It is without doubt the finest 
single piece of architectural modelling on the 
ground. Full of characteristic detail, it becomes 
particularly interesting by reason of the senti- 
mental interest which attaches to the many 
figures and busts which have been introduced 
into its rich mass of mouldings, ornament, and 
scrolls. There is Padre Junipero Serra, occupy- 

[31] 



THE BUILDINGS 

ing the place of honor at the top; at each side 
below him are two explorers, Don Sebastian 
Viszcaino to the left and Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo 
to the right; with the busts of their patrons, 
Philip III and the Emperor Charles V of Spain, 
above. Below Cabrillo is the first Governor of 
Southern California, and below Viszcaino is 
George Vancouver, the English navigator — the 
first non-Spanish explorer to visit San Diego 
Bay. In the lowest niches, occupying naturally 
the humble position appropriate to their religious 
profession, are the statues of Padre Antonio de 
la Ascension, the Carmelite and historian who 
accompanied Vizcaino, and Padre Luis Jayme, 
the Franciscan and follower of Serra, the martyr 
of the mission, who suffered death at the hands 
of the Indians at the destruction of the San 
Diego Mission. All of these figures are mod- 
elled with fine regard for their relation to the 
surrounding ornament, and their flowing capes 
and draperies echo the animated character of 
the ornament. 

The fine oaken door opening into the church 
has all the character of the richly ornate frontis- 
piece. Over the doorway are the arms of the 
State of California and elsewhere are those of 
Spain, Mexico and the United States. How- 
ever, a group of candelabra directly in front, at 
the head of the steps, has all the distressing 
awkwardness of most examples of the first 
evidence of municipal art in small country 
communities, the Main-street electrolier. I 
hope that they are not permanent, and easily 
removed. They are superfluous in the other- 
wise well-lighted quadrangle, and entirely out of 

[32] 




GLIMPSE OF THE MONTEZUMA GARDEN — THE TOWER OF THE INDIAN 
ARTS BUILDING IN THE DISTANCE 



THE BUILDINGS 

keeping with either simple Mission or Spanish- 
Mexican style. They are modern American, 
and that is all one can say about them. 

There is much charm in the great expanse of 
the huge octagonal dome and its pyramidal 
lantern, as well as in three minor domes at the 
other corners of the building. The graceful 
lantern is worthy to be the work of Manuel 
Tolsa, who designed and executed many a beau- 
tiful piece of art work in Mexico. The glazed 
colored tiles of the dome sparkle in the sunlight 
and give a note of the joyousness of southern 
climes to the otherwise austere building. They 
cover the outer surface of the dome solidly, 
forming the simple geometric patterns one finds 
in many similar domes throughout Mexico. 
Speaking of the patterns, the Great Star in the 
center on all eight sides seems a little violent. 

Around the drum of the dome we have a 
highly appropriate Latin inscription. Trans- 
lated, it runs like this: A land of wheat 

AND BARLEY, AND VINES AND FIG-TREES AND 
POMEGRANATES, A LAND OF OIL, OLIVES, AND 

HONEY. Is THAT NOT California.? And typical 
California it is if one ascends the great tower to 
enjoy the view of the land below. The graceful, 
tapering tower or campanile, reaching two hun- 
dred feet up into the blue sky, resembles any 
number of Spanish Renaissance belfries, such as 
that of Cordova or the celebrated Giralda at 
Seville or the tower at Chihuahua in Mexico, for 
instance. Like any great work of art it is both 
effective from a distance and full of interesting 
detail at close range. It can be seen for miles 
around San Diego, and it is the dominant note 

[33] 



THE BUILDINGS 

of the Exposition. It is highly interesting to 
bring the tower into visual relation with the 
many other buildings of related style on a walk 
through the Exposition grounds. The tower is 
always a source of pleasure, either from without 
or as a vantage-point to get a view of a remark- 
able topographical spectacle which presents itself 
to the eye from the four balconies of its upper- 
most stories. It is one of the lasting impressions 
one carries away. 

Towards the south one is, in order to get 
one's bearings, unconsciously attracted towards 
the city of San Diego, feeling its way cautiously 
along the vast expanse of the San Diego Bay. 
It has the typical expression of a spontaneously 
grown city, with the characteristic emphasis put 
upon the center by a number of tall buildings, 
surrounded by the tapering array of minor 
dwellings, ultimately losing themselves in open 
spaces. There is a peculiarly different note 
about San Diego, with its freedom from excessive 
industrial activity. It is as if the city had been 
chosen with regard for the most manifold topo- 
graphical variation to be found, all within a 
close range. The bay, a well-protected laguna, 
offers such a well-sheltered haven of refuge that 
one has difficulty in discovering its union with 
the blue waters of the Pacific, directly under 
the protecting bluffs of Point Loma, towards the 
southwest. Point Loma reaches out like a strong 
arm into the open sea to shield the city from the 
nagging of the prevailing summer winds. Oppo- 
site San Diego on the small, protective tongue of 
land which, together with the mainland forms 
the harbor, the quaint architectural features of 

[34] 




WEST BALCONY IN THE REFECTORY OF THE CALIFORNIA BUILDING 



THE BUILDINGS 

Coronado loom up, emphasizing the center of 
another small community. One recalls the 
pleasant warmth of its gentle waves, lapping at 
the apparently interminable sand link, so poetic- 
ally called the Silver Thread. It is a most 
beautiful thread, a gently curving line of wonder- 
ful rhythmic grace. No violent action of the 
ocean formed that line. It has all the quality 
of slow and careful growth such as could have 
been possible only under a clime free from the 
stronger contrast of nature's activities. The 
placid waters of the Pacific are not allowed to 
continue uninterruptedly towards the horizon. 
Away out in Mexican waters that boldly shaped 
row of islands, the Coronado group, furnishes a 
picture of great fascination. Corpus Christi 
Island, towards the right, makes a particular 
appeal, resting by itself in the suggestive out- 
lines of the outstretched form of the Saviour. 
One's gaze continues westward, passing over 
North Island in the foreground, again over Point 
Loma, often bathed in a cool haze sliding in 
from the ocean. The tiny form of the old 
Spanish lighthouse is barely perceptible under 
the shifting cover of the sea mists. Further on 
towards the west and up the coast, glimpses of 
the ocean are afforded, until turning completely 
towards the west one has the beginning of that 
gradual change from the more rugged coast 
towards the fertile lands which embrace San 
Diego on three sides. 

From the north balcony of the tower, the 
typical, often much abused California picture 
actually presents itself in all the charm of its 
many contrasting elements. In the foreground 

[35] 



THE BUILDINGS 

plateaus and undulating lowlands, in their rich 
culture of orange and lemon grove, extend 
toward blue hills and the snow-capped moun- 
tains beyond. The contrast of semi-tropical flora 
directly at our feet, the horticultural wealth of 
the immediate surroundings, together with the 
flourishing fields of the citrus grower against this 
range of mountains, is charming and romantic in 
many ways. Out here in California we have 
composed this picture so often on paper for the 
benefit of the easterner, even when it necessi- 
tated a wild leap of the imagination to accom- 
plish the imagery. But here from the lofty 
height of San Diego*s great cathedral tower on 
a clear January day, it is a reality and a sight 
not to be forgotten. There is a peculiar irregu- 
larity in the contour of these mountains. They 
have not the uniform round shape of the northern 
mountains and hills, and they look as if they were 
getting ready to lose their identity, approaching 
the Mexican border on the east. Looking east, 
the lands lessen into terrace forms, ultimately 
showing a typical Mexican mesa, as flat as a 
table. There is no suggestion in this monotonous 
picture to remind one of the turbulency of our 
southern neighbors, unless it is the faint sugges- 
tion of that hybrid town of Tia Juana, where 
Aunt Jane in her old days is leading a dissolute 
life under the protection, or rather the blind 
tolerance, of a lax and generous government. 
There is much variety in this panoramic picture, 
and casting quick glances to all sides one has 
the feeling that here is a corner of the earth 
where every topographical unit known to the 
physical geographer exists, with the exception 
[36] 




PATIO WITHIN THE SCIENCE AND EDUCATION BUILDING 



THE BUILDINGS 

of inland lakes. Open seas, rockbound coast, 
sandy beaches, sheltered lagunas, marshy lands, 
make a picture of great variety towards the sea ; 
while inland the country within a comparatively 
short space rises from tilled and fertile lowlands 
and oak-grown pastures into higher mountains, 
with their snow covering in winter time. It is a 
picture which contributes much toward the 
uniqueness of the San Diego Exposition. 

One leaves that tower with great regret, only 
to become enchanted immediately on arriving 
below, by the romance of the inviting cool 
arcades which enclose the open court, the Plaza 
de Cahfornia. Opposite the gorgeous fagade, 
under the restful shadows of the roughly shaped 
ceiling, the true spirit of the California Mission 
is in evidence. In fact the three sides of the 
square court adjoining the cathedral have more 
decidedly the character of the simple buildings 
of the Padres than of the accomplished and 
skilled creation of the Spanish-Mexican church 
architect. Sitting down to rest on one of the 
benches under the arcade, one is struck by the 
genuineness of historical architectural expression 
in the typical construction of the roof. Built 
of roughly hewn cedar logs, covered only with 
widely spaced sheathing, the red tile covering 
of the outside is allowed to get into play for the 
effect on the inside as well. It is a very simple 
and imaginative method of construction, rustic 
and primitive, but constructively sound and 
reassuring as to the general permanent character 
of this group of buildings. Besides, this treat- 
ment of the ceiling is most decorative, and in 
accord with the floor, covered with large durable 

[37] 



THE BUILDINGS 

square burned clay tiles, showing wide mortar 
bonds to overcome the uneven and interesting 
irregularity of their form. It is a very intimate 
picture and so full of historical connection that 
the appearance of a padre in his brown Fran- 
ciscan robe would hardly cause surprise. The 
formal note of many clipped cypresses inside the 
court in front of the piers of the arcade adds to 
the picture that evidence of human care that 
one always welcomes in any architiectural picture. 

But many doors east and west cause one's 
curiosity to press on farther inside. The one 
on the east side in the south corridor is closed ; 
the somewhat mystic darkness of the door on 
the west affords a picture of an interior. At 
first the low light of the entrance reveals little, 
but gradually a great staircase, a magnificent 
handwrought Renaissance lantern, and away up 
a very finely coffered ceiling become discernible. 
The lantern hanging down in this vestibule may 
be old or it may be a modern replica, but in its 
relation to the architecture of its immediate 
surroundings, it makes a superb effect. It 
naturally leads one up to the ceiling, which is 
equally successful in preserving a note of his- 
torical age, although of recent construction. 
This ceiling will too often be overlooked, but it 
is deserving of more than just a passing glance. 
A small open door on this lower floor, leading 
out on a closed balcony toward the south, reveals 
the intimate atmosphere of the interior of a 
small chapel. 

On descending to the floor below and entering 
through a finely grilled door, one is inside a 
small chapel, with all the typical characteristics 

[38] 




THE ALTAR IN THE SERRA CHAPEL 



THE BUILDINGS 

of a true Mission interior. It is dedicated 
especially to the memory of Father Serra, whose 
name it bears. One is affected again by the 
truly religious sentiment which pervades this 
little chapel, so that one forgets all about the 
close proximity of everyday things such as the 
sometimes noisy joys of exposition visitors. It 
casts a spell which revives the memories of the 
days gone by — the days when San Diego was 
the extreme northern outpost of Spanish-Mexican 
civilization and not yet thought of as the most 
remote southwestern corner of a great modern 
civilization. There are few things in this chapel, 
but they all seem genuine and impressive. The 
great altar on the southwest, facing the entrance, 
is the most important feature of the dimly 
lighted hall. Here naturally religious sentiment 
and ceremony are focussed. It was in such 
spots that the fathers sometimes created out of 
the small store of their architectural knowledge 
these highly decorated altars of which this is a 
typical example. Done in enduring material, it 
is probably the only one of its type in California. 
Like the great frontispiece of the California 
Cathedral Building, the altar is full of sculptured 
figures of religious historical interest. The most 
prominent figure in the middle is that of Our 
Lady and Child, occupying the place of honor 
and importance. At the left stands, almost life- 
size, the sombre figure of St. Francis Xavier, 
patron of the Jesuits, introduced to commemo- 
rate the Missions in Arizona and their founders, 
and at the right is the statue of an unknown 
secular priest and saint, to commemorate the 
work of the church in general in California. 

[39] 



THE BUILDINGS 

The two heads above are of Santa Isabel 
(St. EUzabeth) of Hungary, identified by the 
crown, and on the other side, Santa Clara of 
Assisi, founder of the second Order of Fran- 
ciscans and friend of San Francisco. The two 
bishop's heads below are those of San Buena- 
ventura, Bishop of Abano, and San Luis, Bishop 
of Tolosa (St. Louis of Toulouse), both Fran- 
ciscans and patrons of California Missions. At 
the right of the altar hangs a bas relief of San 
Francisco, showing the stigmata, giving an 
additional note of historical religious interest 
which is further carried on on the west wall by 
an ancient wooden statue, of Spanish origin, of 
San Antonio of Padua. 

This does not complete, however, the simple 
furnishings of this intimate chapel. There are 
hung about old musty paintings, in flyspecked 
frames, of religious subjects, an antique "Ecce 
Homo" unearthed in Old Mexico being one of 
the most typical. The old pulpit to the left 
indicates practical use, and so does a very fine 
ironwrought Bible stand, in front of the altar. 
The Bible reposing on it is old, very old, but on 
examination discloses itself as a German and not 
a Spanish book. 

On our way out, facing the wall opposite the 
altar, the little gallery approached from an 
opening in the middle story becomes of interest 
again, not only for its quaint wooden construc- 
tion but also for the inscription on its supporting 
main beam. It runs: Scte Francisce. Pater 
Seraphice. Missionum AUcb Calif ornicB Patrone. 
Ora pro nobis; or. Saint Francis, Seraphic 
Father, Father of the Missions of Upper 

[40] 




THE COMMERCE AND INDUSTRIES BUILDING- 
THE FOREGROUND 



■THE LAGUNA IN 



THE BUILDINGS 

California, Pray for Us. So it reads, and 
with this sentiment we enter the hall again and 
ascend the stairway to invade a long hall, some- 
what like a refectory, given over to a display 
of a large collection of modern paintings. 

The first feeling one has in entering this well- 
proportioned and well-lighted hall is of being 
rudely awakened from a pleasant dream. How 
did these pictures get into this atmosphere of 
historic sentiment.'' One is at first resentful at 
the daring intrusion of these ultra-moderns, so 
out of sympathy with their surroundings. Their 
disrespectful attitude towards the past has no 
connection whatever with the period character 
of the Exposition or the California Quadrangle 
in particular. Without investigating the raison 
d'etre of this amazing collection of pictures, one 
must in all fairness admit their individual worth 
and interest, despite their antidotal eff^ect in 
bringing one back to the modern world after a 
consistently maintained historical journey. As 
modern pictures pure and simple, they are 
endowed with all that quality of expressive 
actuality so dominant a note in present day art. 
There is Childe Hassam, with a capital deco- 
rative "Moonrise at Sunset." Very delicate in 
color and subtle in technical execution, it is one 
of the finest examples of Hassam's art we have 
had out here in the west for some time. Robert 
Henri has a lovely little girl portrait, and some 
of his recent western studies of Indians. Guy 
Pene Du Bois, Carl Springhorn, and William 
Glackens all maintain modern tendencies in 
their work with individual freedom and some- 
times great daring. Space does not permit any 

[41] 



THE BUILDINGS 

more than merely to give the names of the others 
participating in this very remarkable little 
exhibition. There is George Luks, with some 
"Cuban Dancers;" Joseph Henry Sharp with a 
very literary subject, "The Stoic," and other 
Indian themes; Maurice Prendergast*s very 
colorful "Landscape with Figures" and a very 
decorative frieze of " Playing Children ;" Ernest 
Lawson with some candidly observed landscapes, 
and last but not least those two related spirits, 
John Sloan and George Bellows. Bellows* two 
great New York canvases are full of the vigor of 
his brush, intimately observed and simply and 
broadly rendered. Some day when age has 
spread the harmonizing tone of amber over these 
cool Bellows, they will rank as the great paint- 
ings of early twentieth century American art. 
After even a casual investigation one feels quite 
consoled over the sudden departure from historic 
sentiment to modern matter of fact painting and 
the subsequent necessity of taking up again the 
thread of older traditions. 

It is in a way refreshing and stimulating to be 
momentarily interrupted thus, and moreover a 
visit to this gallery prepares one for the deci- 
dedly modern note which prevails in the upstairs 
quarters over the entire west side of the build- 
ing. After some introspective moments in the 
Serra chapel and much historic retrospect, I was 
keyed up, having heard of the art gallery, to see 
a vast number of dignified pictures in hand- 
carved, gilded, or black frames, such as the few 
in the chapel. My heart longed for endless dark 
and unintelligible tabasco-sauce-colored paint- 
ings of Church dignitaries. Conquerors, and 

[42] 









THE FOOD PRODUCTS BUILDING 



THE BUILDINGS 

Saints, but I see now I was doomed to disap- 
pointment, owing to the insurmountable handi- 
cap of many years of conventional European 
influences based on a holy respect for the past. 
Besides, the modern note of the Women's Head- 
quarters upstairs might have been too immediate 
in its very pronounced gaiety of color. These 
many connected rooms with their great number 
of windows have a most distinctive note, which 
in a large measure is due to a very daring but 
most successful color scheme of black and per- 
simmon color. The effect, enhanced and en- 
riched here and there in many added motives 
like ripe pumpkin or French marigold, is striking 
but not devoid of poise. These rooms, with 
their atmosphere of a most generous, sincere 
California hospitality, leave pleasant memories 
even in the mind of the casual tourist who in 
"doing" the Exposition hastily passed through 
in his search for other impressions. In the late 
afternoon the open balcony towards the west 
affords the pleasures of the spectacular California 
sunsets which are enacted over the bold forms 
of Point Loma. One would almost think that 
so great a variety of treatment of the interior 
would disrupt that feeling of unity, of oneness, 
that is so immensely helpful in preserving the 
desirable repose of an exposition building. But 
on reflection one welcomes that note of new life 
in the art gallery and upstairs as refreshing, 
stimulating, and invigorating. One leaves the 
building with a feeling of zest for further explo- 
rations, and on arriving again outside, out of the 
cool shadows of the arcades into the warmth of 
a California sun, the apparently endless straight 

[43] 



THE BUILDINGS 

line of the Prado, the central avenue, has no 
terrors. 

We have so far penetrated only into the shel- 
tering quiet of the Plaza de California, the first 
but smallest square in the Exposition picture. 
On the east, continuing the axis laid down by 
the great bridge, the main avenue gently rises 
as the Prado between two stately buildings, 
Science and Education, and Indian Arts, towards 
the center of all Exposition activities, the great 
Plaza de Panama. Here everybody pauses 
again and sits down to rest, to adjust the mind 
to the new note of the traversing secondary axis 
running to the north from the California Build- 
ing, straight against the sea, to be arrested by 
the outstretched arms of the Organ colonnade. 
That must suffice for the moment, since the 
Prado offers much more for investigation. 

I always have the desire in studying an expo- 
sition to acquaint myself with the larger con- 
structive features before sitting down to the less 
strenuous pleasures of investigating the smaller 
and minor units. The San Diego. Exposition, in 
spite of its orderly arrangement, has nevertheless 
that irregular character so typical of all Latin 
cities, inciting one's curiosity to the breaking 
point, and tempting one on. Leaving the Plaza 
de Panama and proceeding eastward on the 
Prado one passes two buildings, one on each 
side, the Home Economy on the left and the 
Foreign Arts on the right, and one expects to see 
this scheme repeated farther on with another 
group, but discovers once more the introduction 
of another charming unit, based on a minor 
traversing axis and leading up towards the north 

[44] 




THE ARCADE OF THE SCIENCE AND EDUCATION BUILDING 



THE BUILDINGS 

into the Botanical Building. Here no paved 
open plaza has been attempted, but a peaceful 
poetic note of a placid laguna and its minor 
more intimate neighbor, the so-called lagunita, 
furnish the keynote. The entire neighborhood 
has been called the Botanical Garden. For the 
moment we shall leave it, to return to it later. 
After this glimpse into the side court, the Prado 
continues between another group, the Varied 
Industries on the left and the Commerce and 
Industries on the right. Arriving at the point 
beyond these buildings, one's attraction is deci- 
dedly carried towards the left, where the sym- 
metrical arrangement of the Southern California 
Counties Building occupies a prominent place 
all by itself, standing away from the Prado by 
several hundred feet. Between this building 
and another, the Agricultural Building, closely 
adjoining the Varied Industries, runs the Calle 
Cristobal, which loses itself gradually among 
agricultural outdoor displays. 

In this part of the Exposition we have also the 
San Diego successor of the old-time Midway or 
Pike — the Isthmus, the apparently inevitable 
feature of expositions. It is in this one feature 
that modern expositions have not as yet dared 
to emancipate themselves. It is here again the 
same old thing, the same tawdry tinsel, the same 
old peanut and popcorn pandemonium on Sun- 
days. Occasionally one runs across something 
that makes a lasting impression, like the highly 
successful "Painted Desert." Set up in the 
most remote northerly end of the Exposition, it 
deserves much attention for its really artistic 
features. I imagine that to the European who 

[45] 



THE BUILDINGS 

might be studying on a map of America the 
relatively short span between the Arizona habitat 
of the Indians of the Southwest and the city of 
San Diego, the thought of a reproduction at 
considerable cost of this most picturesque Indian 
dwelling might hardly occur. He might think it 
easier, having arrived at San Diego, to finish the 
relatively short distance to the real thing, here 
so wonderfully well reproduced. The skies of 
Arizona differ little from those here, and even 
toward the east the tablelands of the skyline 
furnish almost the identical physical conditions 
necessary for a faithful reproduction of this 
ethnological exhibit. With rude rocks brought 
in from Arizona and New Mexico, with desert 
cedar and cactus and piiion wood, with the help 
of the white man and the intimate knowledge of 
the red man himself, the true life of the Indian 
of the American Southwest has been represented. 
It is by no means an ordinary village. Skilfully 
and with fine regard for effect of genuineness, 
the habitations of the cliff dwellers and the 
"Logans" of the Navajos and the other nomadic 
tribes are here set up. Even the towering 
pueblos of the Zuni and Hopi are in evidence. 
One gets a very real and lasting impression of 
a unique and old civilization of Indian life with 
which very few people are familiar. In the cool 
crevices of the rocks the Navajo women are at 
work weaving in crude colors their decorative 
rugs and blankets, while the children are carding 
and sorting the colored wool. On the roof of 
the adobe dwellings the pueblo Indians are 
shaping their pottery and hammering out their 
silver and copper ornaments. In the sacred 
[46] 




THE FOOD PRODUCTS BUILDING FROM THE BOTANICAL GARDEN- 
THE LAGUNITA IN THE FOREGROUND 



THE BUILDINGS 

keva sometimes the braves may be heard stamp- 
ing furiously in their dances, such as their 
ancestors danced long before the coming of the 
white man. It is an atmosphere itself and free 
from any of the circus features which so often 
spoil the transplanted life of foreign usages and 
customs. After wandering down the appar- 
ently endless Isthmus, the "Painted Desert" 
comes as a great surprise, offering a genuine 
pleasure. 

But so far it has only been a cursory exami- 
nation, with a closer investigation of the two 
extreme points of interest, the California Quad- 
rangle and the Indian Village — one represent- 
ing the highest artistic expressions of the white 
man's civilization and the other the much older 
and still existing art of the real American. It 
will be necessary to begin again at the point 
where the Prado springs from the Plaza de 
California. Under the sombre shadows of the 
arcades which line the Prado on either side, we 
are tempted to forget our plan of investigating 
the outside of the buildings more closely, to 
yield to the enchanting pictures of the sheltered 
stairways leading into another realm of the 
Exposition — the Gardens. But that is reserved 
for another chapter. 

The Science and Education Building suggests 
three styles — Mission, Spanish Renaissance, and 
Moorish — represented by the round plain arches 
of the arcade, the decorative windows of the 
upper story, and the glistening color note of 
the tiled turret, respectively. 

It will be observed immediately on leaving 
the California Quadrangle that a somewhat 

[47] 



THE BUILDINGS 

different spirit prevails now in the architecture. 
One's attention is first drawn to the differences 
in texture and color of the buildings outside the 
California Quadrangle. The cement finish in 
the permanent group has a darker tone, while a 
certain smooth and light plaster of Paris quality 
seems to be the controlling note of the tempo- 
rary buildings. But it is not this alone. The 
architecture, while it has the same constructive 
dignity as the California Cathedral, has not the 
refined reserve that one so greatly admires in 
that building. This is particularly true of the 
ornamental detail. It will readily be seen that 
a decorative style of architectural ornamenta- 
tion, such as the Baroque, can very easily become 
over-elaborate and loose, forgetting its true 
function of supporting the constructive forms 
of the buildings. While Mr. Goodhue was the 
guiding mind of the whole ensemble, it becomes 
very evident that other workers interpreted his 
ideas, not always in the spirit of the reserved 
style of the master. There is a great deal of 
variance in feeling and in scale in the many 
buildings. They are not all equally successful. 
The Science and Education Building shows good 
restraint and much thought. The window open- 
ings, with their gay touch of the marble column, 
are almost Romanesque. It is a building that 
is conspicuous for a certain respectful attitude 
toward its most dignified neighbor, the great 
Cathedral, which it adjoins. The same must be 
credited to the Indian Arts Building, opposite, 
on the north side of the Prado. Much smaller 
in ground area by reason of the great space it 
had to yield to the Montezuma garden, its 
[48] 




THE ORGAN ON THE PLAZA DE LOS ESTADOS 



THE BUILDINGS 

facade is really found on the Plaza de Panama. 
This is the most Mission-like creation of all the 
Exposition buildings — distinctly simple and 
almost primitive in style. Quite in keeping 
with this purpose and following the building 
traditions of the American Indians, the walls of 
this building are very plain, completely devoid 
of decoration except on the north doorway. 
The open belfries in this Mission building are 
typical, however, in their primitiveness. 

Reaching the Plaza de Panama once more, 
the symmetrical form of the Sacramento Val- 
ley Building rises impressively. Most happily 
placed, it is fully deserving of its prominent 
situation. Among the many unsymmetrical 
and sometimes poorly balanced buildings, it 
comes as a great relief. Its massive dignity of 
almost strictly Renaissance plan calls for respect. 
Mr. Allen may well be proud of this building 
and of all the attentions which are bestowed 
upon it owing to its prominent location. It 
conveys the impression of a city palace or even 
a town hall. Here one has the feeling of having 
arrived at the center of social outdoor activities. 
In its general features it resembles the Palacio 
at Oaxaca in Mexico, a consideration which really 
adds as little to its organic effect in its pres- 
ent surroundings as it detracts from the really 
new note furnished by the sloped tile roof and 
the elaborately carved cornice. The seven 
graceful arches which constitute the principal 
feature of its facade are supported by pillars 
with half columns in front twined with sculp- 
tured grape vines, a design that is much in 
evidence at this Exposition. 

[49] 



THE BUILDINGS 

The daring color effect of the building is pro- 
duced not only by the contrast of the red roof 
against an imperturbable blue sky, but also by 
the blue curtains on the windows, brought for- 
ward and hanging over the iron railings. The 
large blue and yellow striped awning raised in 
front of the building, to shelter either band or 
dancers, furnishes the key to the whole color 
scheme of the Exposition. The color scheme is 
worthy of study, since it demonstrates in a very 
striking way what may really be accomplished 
with just a few daring notes of primary colors 
against the bright surface of buildings. We 
have heard so much about exposition color 
schemes of very elaborate scope that an effective 
use of just a few strong primary colors becomes 
really interesting in its simple contrasting feat- 
ures. There is no color at all on the buildings 
anywhere. They are all painted white, with a 
tinge of cream wherever they are temporary, 
and the great California Building has the soft, 
warm color of mature cement. And still color 
seems to run through everywhere, without occur- 
ring in great quantities. It is not a color 
scheme of mellow middle tones spread over large 
surfaces, but the piquant dash of bright blue 
and yellow or a daring moss green or again an 
orange which joyfully greets you from the many 
window openings of the buildings. Together 
with the similarly candid notes of the tile on the 
great domes and minor turrets of other buildings 
which are completely covered with them, this 
is all the color furnished by the hand of man. 
However, nature in its abundance has added 
other color schemes which we shall meet with 

[50] 




DECORATIVE FLOWER URNS ON THE PRADO 



THE BUILDINGS 

later. Sloping toward the sea, the paved sur- 
face of the Plaza de Panama continues into the 
greensward of the Esplanade, separated from it 
by a balustrade in order to preserve the full 
meaning of the great central space. On either 
side, west and east, are two pretentious build- 
ings of similar Spanish Renaissance type. On 
the west is the smaller, the Kern and Tulare 
Counties Building, while on the east side stands 
the much larger San Joaquin Valley Building. 
The former is simple and unpretentious, though 
most attractive, while the latter has all the 
ornateness of the ever-present Churrigueresque 
style. 

We have by this time arrived at the organ — 
that most impressive feature of the Exposition. 
Architecturally it is not very convincing. It is 
hard to understand the pygmy scale of the 
colonnades as contrasted with the great bulk of 
the central part, housing the mechanism of the 
organ. Of all the architecture of the Exposition 
it is to my mind the most uninteresting, most 
untemperamental creation. Compared with the 
many architectural pyrotechnics elsewhere on 
the grounds, it does not enter into the concert 
of over-joyous Baroque melodies. It sings all 
by itself in pseudo-classic strain without having 
any classic expression. However, the organ 
must be enjoyed for what it produces musically 
and for what you may see from its spacious 
colonnades. Absolutely unprotected, it stands 
on a rising hillside without fear of inclemency of 
the weather. From having sat there often, on 
one of the many comfortable benches on the 
Plaza de los Estados, at different times of the 

[51] 



THE BUILDINGS 

year, I have come to the conclusion that there 
is no such thing, at least at San Diego. I do 
not know how often during the year the public 
has been deprived by bad weather of the delight- 
ful hour of Dr. Stewart*s recital, but it certainly 
cannot have been very often. It is the most 
enjoyable hour of the day — - it is an important 
feature which contributes toward the original 
note of this Exposition. There have been organs 
at all expositions, in fact some much bigger ones, 
for instance at St. Louis, but none have played 
for an entire exposition at one time. Every- 
where over the entire plateau may be heard the 
monumental music of the Handel Largo or the 
sweet harmonies of some folk melodies. The 
organ gives tone .to the Exposition and nobody 
is permitted not to enjoy it. It was daring to 
select the most exposed position for this musical 
outdoor phase of the Exposition, but it has 
proved a great success. It will, after the Expo- 
sition, for many years to come be the source of 
much enjoyment and education to all the people 
who will be privileged to visit this blessed spot. 

There still remain to be visited the buildings 
east of the Plaza de Panama, along the Prado. 
Architecturally they all more or less forget them- 
selves and indulge in a veritable carnival of 
Baroque ornamentation, such as the wildest 
periods of Europe seldom beheld. The influ- 
ence of the noble Cathedral is waning, the 
mantle of restraint is thrown away, and riotous 
joy prevails. This is of course all in the style, 
but it shows the difference between the work 
done by a man whose hobby, so to speak, has 
been so individual a style as Spanish Baroque 

[52] 




THE TOWERS OF THE FOOD PRODUCTS BUILDING ON THE 
CALLE CRISTOBAL 



THE BUILDINGS 

as demonstrated in the California Building, and 
the work here done by men who had to live 
themselves quickly into a style which at best 
nobody can completely master in its most 
mannered way. It is the expression of the 
most decadent side of Baroque that jumps at 
us here from all corners. Overly heavy, drop- 
sical mouldings conveying the idea of enormous 
physical weight, ornamental convulsions of all 
kinds, loud and spectacular in effect, are in 
evidence in more than one place. But we must 
not forget this is an Exposition and that this is 
not the part intended for posterity. 

The Home Economy Building and the Foreign 
Arts Building on the east side of the Plaza de 
Panama extend also partly up the Prado. The 
chief feature of each is a tower. The Home 
Economy Building is the more successful one of 
the two, particularly on the west side. It has a 
delightful Spanish Moorish character, reminis- 
cent, however faintly, of the Palace of Monterey 
at Salamanca. A wooden pergola over the 
arcade connects this building with the Sacra- 
mento Valley Building. The tower on the For- 
eign Arts Building, distinguished by the crown- 
ing ornamentation, in the shape of many small 
pinnacles, contrasts with the plain finish of the 
tower opposite on the north. The windows on 
the upper story of this building are particularly 
pleasing in their decorative treatment. Those 
on the north side are protected by iron grilles, 
as is the custom in Spain. Continuing on the 
right of the Prado, the Foreign Arts Building is 
connected by a very interesting colonnade of 
semicircular arches. It is covered with a tiled 

[53] 



THE BUILDINGS 

roof adding that touch of Spanish atmosphere 
one always enjoys. 

The Commerce and Industries Building and 
the Varied Industries opposite are the two 
largest buildings in the grounds and they are 
in a measure the most typical examples of the 
declining beauties of a marvelous style. It is 
in these two buildings, particularly in the Varied 
Industries, that one may speak of architectural 
pyrotechnics, with all the flamboyant effects of 
overdone ornamentation. The Commerce and 
Industries Building is not free from certain 
overnaturalistic tendencies, particularly in the 
large consoles designed as kneeling women. This 
may be due to a lack of skilled artisans experi- 
enced in the modelling of human forms, but 
whatever may be the cause, these realistic ladies 
do spoil the pleasure of enjoying the otherwise 
well-designed heavy cornice of the building. 
The color treatment in the cornice is unique 
among the buildings, but most effective. 

Adjoining the Varied Industries on the north 
and stretching along the Calle Cristobal, the 
Food Products Building continues the scheme 
of things. It might easily be mistaken for part 
of the Varied Industries Building which it 
adjoins, but official designation decrees it a 
special building, though there is no reason visible 
for this division on the outside. Architecturally 
one will very quickly find it one of the really 
interesting buildings on the grounds. It has 
two very distinct artistic features — the archi- 
tectural emphasis of the main entrance on the 
east side and the highly successful treatment of 
the part which adjoins the Botanical gardens. 

[54] 





t '^ '^ ^^?^ ■ '- 


■HIS 


S^9 


. \ !ifj^P^*'^'r^ '^-g^ 


.^-#.^-V*.- 




■ ' * . ' . " 


€.r^^^42l^lH 


'"" ^^^^i^HBH 







THE FOUNTAIN IN THE BOTANICAL GARDEN 



THE BUILDINGS 

Each has its own distinctive beauty. The main 
entrance, with its two towers, is typical of a 
Spanish monastery in the Churrigueresque style, 
and the large scaled ornamentation around the 
door is much better Baroque than one generally 
meets with. Toward the west the apse and 
choir of the chapel extend from the great mass 
of the building, making one side of a most 
charming Spanish court. This part, to my 
mind, is one of the most successful details the 
Exposition has produced. There is a gentle 
restraint about it that can be the result only of 
thoughtful study and intimate understanding. 

One more building, last but not least, invites 
external inspection, and that is the Southern 
Counties Building, once more disclosing in its 
style the influence of the Spanish Churriguer- 
esque in its best phases. It is almost sym- 
metrical in plan and at once dignified and 
conspicuous for its general decorative effect in 
the landscape. Its two tile-covered gay towers 
are its chief features, unless one considers the 
court over which these towers preside, with its 
restful atmosphere, worthy of that character- 
ization. I prefer the Southern Counties Build- 
ing to any single unit on the ground for its 
freedom from any affectation of style. It seems 
eminently successful, not least for its very 
excellent ground plan. The only emphases in 
the building are the towers, which perform their 
function well without any interference from 
ornament. Simple balconied window openings 
are the only distinctive note outside, with the 
exception of the great door and staircase on the 
west side, opposite the Food Products Building. 

[SS] 



THE BUILDINGS 

So far it has been necessary, in order to get a 
proper general view of the architecture of the 
ensemble, to remain out in the open, and the 
most intimate quality of the building colonnades 
has not come to be appreciated. But the day 
becomes longer, the shadows grow short, and 
one welcomes the secluded and subdued atmos- 
phere of the arcades. They are as necessary 
here as in the hotter climes of Mexico and the 
thought of being able to traverse the entire 
Exposition under the cool roof of low-ceilinged 
arcades is reassuring to one's comfort. Inter- 
rupted only by the Plaza de Panama — and 
even there one could stay within the graceful 
arcades of the Sacramento Valley Building — 
they offer their cooling spaciousness to the visitor 
from one end to the other. They tie the whole 
architecture together, and once underneath one 
forgets the sometimes noisy ornamentation on 
the fa§ade above. Their effect is one of great 
benefit to the unity of the Exposition picture. 
No matter what the type of building, whether 
simple Mission or belligerent Baroque, these 
long, apparently endless avenues, extend along 
all the buildings in rhythmic foreshortening into 
endless distances. They make one content with 
the generally more or less strenuous work of 
Exposition wanderings, and even if the excep- 
tional should occur and the heavens send down 
their refreshing showers, they are again the 
haven of refuge, without limiting one to a single 
spot. 

After some time spent in the intimacy of the 
arcades, one might be tempted to do justice to 
the many buildings representing the States of 

[56] 




THE PIGEONS ON THE PLAZA DE PANAMA 



THE BUILDINGS 

the Union. Starting on the Plaza in front of 
the organ, to the right the Via de los Estados 
leads to a number of buildings which in their 
way have tried to fit into the scheme of things, 
with much success when one considers the fact 
that they were designed by different men, in 
different parts of the continent, outside of the 
control of the Supervising Architect. The Wash- 
ington State Building assumes a gaiety barely 
suggestive of its Mission origin. An original 
feature of the building, successfully managed, is 
the many window openings which penetrate the 
outer walls. A little further along on the left 
the Montana Building impresses by its very 
dignified fagade. An air of the secludedness of 
the Mission, from which it too has the general 
outline, is evident in this building, which con- 
trasts markedly with the loose note of its neigh- 
bor from Washington. 

A little to the right, opposite, a most unusual 
structure arouses curiosity as regards its ante- 
cedents. It is simple in construction, almost to 
a point of naivete. New Mexico could not have 
used a better, a more fitting type of building 
than this old Indian-made Mission. The old 
Franciscan Mission Church after which it was 
fashioned was built long before the days of the 
pioneer houses of worship in California. It still 
stands on an elevated position, the rock of 
Acoma. Church and fort, castle and dwelling 
alike, it was built for defense as well as for pur- 
poses of civilization. It has here in repro- 
duction the same simplicity as our California 
Missions, for reasons which were the same in 
either country, lack of expert artisanship. Built 

[57] 



THE BUILDINGS 

relatively low, its two towers emphasize the 
church building as distinguished from the adjoin- 
ing buildings, which are used for displays of an 
archaeological and commercial character. The 
church proper has the true atmosphere of a 
house of worship, and together with the Serra 
Chapel in the California Building, it contributes 
largely toward an atmosphere of religious senti- 
ment. The chapel, with its weighty beam 
ceilings, the altar, and the typical benches — 
they all speak of the primitive character of the 
life of the pioneers of the Southwest, the Fran- 
ciscan monks. As one swings around the drive 
of the States, the Utah Building, with its magni- 
ficent portal, commands attention. Built on 
the plan of a cross, its spaciousness becomes 
evident even from the outside. In general char- 
acter it is very much like the Montana Building, 
but more open and less reminiscent of a Mission 
church. There are others, but this short survey 
must suffice when one of the most important 
features of the Exposition is still waiting for a 
share of praise that cannot be made too large. 
The garden aspect, the flower wealth, the entire 
atmosphere of a newly created paradise, can 
never be praised too highly. It is the making 
of the Exposition, the cause of its intimate 
feeling, its character of having been there in 
days gone by. 



[58] 



THE GARDEN ASPECTS 



ONLY three years ago the paradise in which 
we find the Exposition embedded was 
nothing but a large tract of land devoid of any- 
thing that might be called vegetation. For 
longer than the memory of man this land had 
been untouched by water save by those precious 
few pluvial blessings which find their way into 
the southwest corner of the United States. It 
was no wonder that the soil became hard, and 
seared by the almost continual sun. In the 
canons and on the mesa there grew nothing but 
the obstinate cactus, the fragrant sage and 
chaparral. The sly coyote found it an ideal 
haven of refuge from his depredations into the 
neighboring country. On one side of the mesa 
was a scattered grove of pepper trees, battling 
with outstretched arms for a sad existence, 
deprived of any encouragement in the way of 
water. 

That was only three years ago, and today we 
have the surprising spectacle of the pinnacles 
of a romantic city of Spain rising amidst luxu- 
riant verdure. From immediately about the 
buildings down to the depth of the canons, the 
land is covered with a thick growth of semi- 
tropical foliage, with lofty trees, and generously 
spreading shrubs and bushes. A magic garden 
has taken the place of the desert. It seems 

[59] 



THE GARDEN ASPECTS 

almost as if a wonder had been performed. 
Those who know the resuhs of sun, soil, and 
water if brought together into action in other 
parts of California will marvel less, but to the 
non-Californian with a receptive mind, this 
Aladdin performance must be most interesting 
and instructive as well. Leaving out of consid- 
eration the older Balboa park, leading up to the 
Exposition, a view from the viaduct over the 
side of the parapet down into the winding canon 
will disclose a very convincing sight of the 
horticultural wonders performed. Even on the 
bridge itself, the huge pots emphasizing the ends, 
with their monstrous century plants, arouse 
curiosity. With their flower stalks rising twenty 
feet into the air, they contradict the popular 
story of the centenary blossoming of these 
mythical flowers. I am told these were raised 
from young shoots in the nursery, and they are 
already paying the penalty of maturity, in less 
than a decade. But the bottom of the canon, 
with its irregular shaped pond, has too strong 
an attraction to be outdone by the century 
plants. It is a wonderful pleasure to lean lazily 
over the safe parapet and listen to the monoto- 
nous melodies of the thousands of frogs leading 
a merry life in the pool. With its well-concealed 
borders, the pool has a wealth of aquatic vege- 
tation which is rivalled only by the laguna and 
its sister, the lagunita in the Botanical Garden. 
Everywhere in the shallow waters the lotus is 
sending up its large round leaves, standing, as 
if they wanted to shade the water from the sun, 
on graceful stems above the surface. The water 
lily occupies other corners and bamboo reeds of 
[60] 




THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COUNTIES BUILDING 



THE GARDEN ASPECTS 

many kinds spread all around the edge, offering 
shelter and seclusion to the clannish blackbird 
and the mournfully colored mudhen. Then 
there is the calla, that symbol of a warm clime, 
blooming almost all the year around. Pampas 
grass grows in enormous clumps, sending out its 
great feather dusters. While this most deco- 
rative plant will do well with ordinary irrigation, 
standing on the banks of the pool, resting in 
well-watered soil, it has grown in a remarkably 
luxuriant fashion. The papyrus is another of 
the aquatic plants we observe here under con- 
ditions which must be not less favorable than 
those on the fertile banks of the Nile. All 
around on the sloping sides of the canon are 
many evidences of the results which man, work- 
ing in sympathetic response to a most beneficent 
nature, has achieved where once was a desert. 
Near the bridge stands a grove of Italian and 
Monterey cypresses, the graceful outlines of the 
former accentuating the point where the bridge 
throws its first graceful arch in its efforts to 
reach across the canon. All around are groups 
of acacias of different kinds, varying through 
many shades of darker greens of older trees into 
the lighter tints of the younger foliage. Then 
there is our adopted state tree, the eucalyptus, 
from the common blue gum to the finer red 
variety and the fig-leafed one with its blaze of 
brilliant red blossoms. The eucalyptus has 
become as ordinary as the sparrow, but of the 
finer varieties, like the ficifolia, one can never 
see too many. Then come the palms, some very 
tall ones of the Cocos variety, the thick-bodied 
symmetrical Canary Island date-palm, and 

[61] 



THE GARDEN ASPECTS 

scores of others. Among all these there has been 
scattered a great variety of other trees, furnish- 
ing by successive blooming a very desirable note 
of color. Near the Main Gate are magnificent 
Fuchsias, the gay Canna, and the bright orange 
of the Lantana gleaming through ever5rwhere. 

But we have already lingered too long on the 
bridge, since the intimate beauty of many charm- 
ing garden effects is waiting for us inside. Along 
the Prado, continuing the scheme from the out- 
side of the Exposition buildings, rows of for- 
mally clipped Blackwood Acacias, standing in 
the thick green lawn, line the main avenue. In 
front of the colonnade a hedge of Coprosma, with 
its waxy green leaves, continues the effect 
toward the building. It covers densely the iron 
railing between the posts of the arcade and it is 
refreshing to the eye from within as well as from 
without. From behind its shadowy foliage all 
sorts of vines rise to climb gracefully and luxu- 
riantly over the arches of the arcade into the 
roofs and from these over the adjoining building, 
away up where the eaves and domes begin and 
where the mission bells swing in their belfries. 
It is difficult to describe the colorful beauty of 
these vines, particularly of the Bignonia, of a 
vivid terra cotta yellow, contrasted with the 
crimson vermilion of a rare Bougainville a. They 
all sweep over the walls in great streams of 
color which do not seem to be afraid to reach 
to the highest points. The fascination of these 
spectacular flowers is so great that one almost 
overlooks the many more intimate garden feat- 
ures which the careful visitor will discover 
everywhere. 

[62] 




IN THE PATIO OF THE SCIENCE AND EDUCATION BUILDING 



THE GARDEN ASPECTS 

Adjoining the California Building on the 
south side of the Prado a shaded stairway leads 
under an arch into the Montezuma Garden. 
Los Jardines de Montezuma is the pompous title 
of this retreat. There is, however, nothing 
pompous about this sheltered spot. It is most 
successful as a fine flower garden, embracing all 
the plants one finds in many climes in the well- 
kept garden. It is a typical Spanish formal 
garden, sheltered on all sides, a veritable retreat. 
On three sides buildings, including the Prado 
Colonnade, furnish the enclosing sheltering walls, 
while on the south a pergola almost invisible in 
the surrounding shrubbery divides it from the 
gently sloping park. As if the solid frames of 
the buildings were not enough, rows of Euca- 
lypti, of Pittosporum, and Blackwood Acacia 
have been set all around, outdoing each other 
in setting a new record of annual growth. The 
Pittosporum, with their heavy orange-colored 
clusters of berries, are nowhere finer. The 
formal plan of the garden has been emphasized 
by a border of dwarf Veronica, enclosing many 
flower-beds of various shapes. The bulk of the 
bedding has been done by liberal use of our 
commonest garden friends, the red Geranium 
and the white Marguerite, which have responded 
here with their typical prolificness. Columbines 
in many colors have been added and also the 
Lion's Tail, the apple-scented Salvia, and many 
more. It is a veritable riot of color, and yet 
full of harmony, with its mediating notes of 
many greens. A classic pergola on the west, the 
only typical Greek bit of architecture in the 
grounds, invites one to sit down on its rustic 

[63] 



THE GARDEN ASPECTS 

benches to drink in the enchanting picture of 
floral Hfe. Of the many secluded spots, this is 
the most fascinating retreat, offering alike 
warmth, shelter, and stimulus for further work. 
The pergola on the south, crowned with wooden 
beams, opens up another picture of great rest- 
fulness in the simple tree-bordered space of a 
well-kept lawn. It was here that a Shake- 
spearean play found its delightful outdoor setting, 
under a southern sky. 

After having discovered the Montezuma Gar- 
den, one becomes curious as to other obscured 
garden units — and many there are, giving end- 
less pleasures. North of the great Cathedral 
will be found a fine open park, ready to receive 
the weary wanderer. In fact nowhere has the 
impression been allowed to develop that you are 
behind a building in the sense of being in a 
backyard: Walking around and behind the 
building is one of the great pleasures at this 
Exposition. The intimate side of the Expo- 
sition reveals itself here. The loving care of the 
gardener who leads the eye from the buildings 
gently over trees, shrubs, into the ground is 
manifest at every turn. It is here that we feel 
the difference between the new and the old type 
of exposition. Here you can see behind the 
screen, so to speak, without fear of sham and 
plaster of Paris deceit. Order and care has been 
maintained with all that regard for the finer and 
lasting effects that attention to detail will create. 

But the call of the Prado is still as strong as 
ever. There are still two intimate secluded 
gardens which each deserve the fullest attention 
for their individual charm. They are both of 

[64] 



THE GARDEN ASPECTS 

the patio type, and situated within the Science 
and Education Building. The larger one of the 
two, enclosed on three sides by the building 
walls of severe plainness, with only the single 
decorative emphasis of an ornate doorway, is 
typical of the Spanish or Spanish-American 
inner courts. It has all the privacy and charm 
of seclusion which is appealing in a country 
where privacy in gardens is hardly known. 
Here at San Diego, where the success of this 
unique loitering-spot of subtropical climes has 
been so well demonstrated, one is made to 
wonder why so very seldom one meets with its 
adaptations in our California dwellings. We 
adhere religiously to the old-fashioned conser- 
vatory rather than take advantage of the out- 
door possibilities of a small open court. The 
luxuriant plant growth here possible under ideal 
conditions has produced a paradise in these 
secluded spots which is not rivalled in the most 
favored spaces anywhere in the Exposition. In 
contrast to the English-garden effect of the 
Montezuma garden across the Prado, its vege- 
tation is truly tropical. Right at the entrance, 
at either side of a few steps leading up from the 
arcade, are standing guard, with outstretched 
arms, two belligerent looking Dragon trees, of 
the Drac<xna family. A refreshing area of grass 
leads up all around against the solid wall of 
Bananas, Bamboo, Ferns, Papyrus, grouped in 
a most effective way, giving each one its oppor- 
tunity to show off its foliage of unimpaired 
growth. Creeping and pushing through from 
everywhere, vines of all sorts ramble and clamber 
over the bushes and trees, in their effort to reach 

[65] 



THE GARDEN ASPECTS 

sunlight above. Here we meet again the solid 
yellow note of the Bignonia venusta, furnishing 
the play of the Spanish colors with their neighbor 
below, the intensely red poinsettia. Color every- 
where, the sky above, the glistening tiles of the 
tower at the southeast corner — everything 
contributes to the vigorous contrasts of this yet 
placid retreat. At the edge of the shrubbery 
the blue African daisy and the Begonias, with 
many harmonious reds, lead a happy life under 
ideal conditions. After getting accustomed to 
the half-dark, one discovers Pan grinning from 
the seclusion of the shrubbery. He presides 
over two small fountains, spouting water mer- 
rily from a pedestal into a little stone basin. 
The elusive element, introduced merely in a 
suggestive way, completes the happy picture of 
comfort and seclusion. 

A little further up, at the corner of the Science 
and Education Building, a yet smaller patio has 
been introduced. Every arch of the adjoining 
arcade discloses a different picture of it. In 
many respects it is very much like the larger 
patio, but on close inspection reveals many indi- 
vidual charming notes. The central feature 
again is a small Pan fountain, peeking out of the 
sheltering shades furnished by the large leaves 
of the Elephant's Ear {calladium), 3. native of 
Hawaii. Great strains of the Solanum jasmi- 
noides add their silvery note to the grey blue of 
the eucalypti, competing with the ever-present 
glory of the gorgeous Bignonias and Bougain- 
villeas. Away up on the plain east wall of the 
building forming the patio a typical Spanish 
balcony, half hidden amidst the feathery young 

[66] 




O 



THE GARDEN ASPECTS 

growth of the Eucalyptus, arouses romantic 
thoughts. A carelessly flung rug hangs lazily 
over the railing, and one stops for awhile to see 
a Spanish Seiiorita step out from within to com- 
plete the picture. But one wanders on under 
the arcade to meet Pan once more, at the head 
of a formal little avenue bordered by the glossy 
foliage of the Eugenia myrtifolia. 

One is much tempted to lose oneself in the 
maze of curved paths running everywhere 
around the outside of the buildings. But 
instead one yields to the alluring strains of 
Spanish music which come from within the shel- 
tered porch of the Sacramento Valley Building. 
We have arrived once more at the Plaza de 
Panama — the great playground and resting 
place alike. I think nobody ever passes the 
Plaza de Panama without resting awhile, in 
the sun or under the shadows of the buildings, 
to absorb the picture of Spanish-Italian atmos- 
phere which always prevails here. The Spanish- 
Mexican dancers, to the accompaniment of 
singers and mandolin players, furnish a very 
fine typical note that nobody can help stopping 
to enjoy, if only for a short space of time. Their 
colorful costumes, the short black bolero jackets 
and white waists, together with the bright yellow 
and red skirts, make a striking picture. The 
men of the group stand back with unemotional 
faces, taking apparently little interest in any- 
thing but their own singing and playing. 

By this time the pigeons have boldly intro- 
duced themselves to even the most unconcerned 
visitor. Fluttering down from the arcades and 
eaves of the buildings, they take the most 

[67] 



THE GARDEN ASPECTS 

friendly attitude, which, however, is based on 
pure selfishness. Their ever-ready beaks inves- 
tigate ever5rwhere for food, and they don't even 
stop at descending boldly upon the various parts 
of human anatomy offering a foothold. They 
seem at home everywhere — on hats, on shoul- 
ders, on the lap of every visitor who is willing 
to contribute food from liberally purchased grain 
packages. The pigeons to my mind furnish the 
most unique note of the Exposition, and it was 
a very good idea to encourage the first few of 
these winged ornaments to stay and make them- 
selves at home. Now their number is hundreds. 
They seem to be everywhere on the Plaza, par- 
ticularly where choice morsels of food are dis- 
tributed by ever-ready visitors. To sit on one 
of the benches and watch these birds in their 
individual behavior is most entertaining. They 
are all different in color, ranging from pure black 
and white, from the slate-blue of the unadul- 
terated carrier-pigeons, through every conceiv- 
able shade and tint of color. By and by one 
begins to recognize certain ones of them among 
the many. As different as their colors, so are 
their manners. Some are clownishly pirouet- 
ting around, showing off in youthful vanity — 
others are sedate, stiffly holding up their manly 
chests as if they had to uphold the dignity of all 
birddom. All are intensely interested in eating, 
only interrupting their material pursuits to 
make love to each other, in the true manner of 
human beings. They are a great family and 
they seem all to be guided by a common under- 
standing of signals. Suddenly they will all rise 
and with clapping wings perform great rhythmic 
[68] 




A PATH BEHIND THE BUILDINGS 



THE GARDEN ASPECTS 

swirls over plaza and around towers, to settle 
down again to eating and love-making. The 
pigeons of San Marco are older as an institution, 
but the pigeons of San Diego have a faithfulness 
to a spot which is surprising considering their 
recent settlement. 

Living in close company with the pigeons, the 
peacocks assume their characteristic attitude of 
superiority. Strutting about in aristocratic 
fashion, disdainfully, without scrambling for it, 
they condescend to peck some of the tendered 
food. They do not mingle with the crowd, and 
they barely tolerate the company of the pheas- 
ants, who in their gorgeous plumage seem to 
incite them to jealousy and anger. The pea- 
cocks, however, do not hesitate a bit to show 
off. Spreading their tails with wild agitation, 
they are a curious combination of dignity and 
silliness. The little Australian bush-fowl and 
guinea-hen complete the picture. It seems so 
logical to animal and man alike — the impres- 
sion grows everywhere that here is an old and 
settled estate, with all the charming detail 
which only individual attention and appre- 
ciation of a true milieu can produce. One leaves 
the plaza only with much regret, with the 
knowledge of a certain return to bathe in the 
sun and listen to Spanish music and the cooing 
of pigeons. 

Further up the Prado to the left, the Moorish 
Gardens hold many attractions to the lover of 
nature. Here water has been used generously 
and with fine effect. There is no irregular sur- 
face of water an)rwhere in the Exposition with 
the exception of the pool under the bridge, and 

[69] 



THE GARDEN ASPECTS 

all the water used ever^here else gives the 
impression of serving as the piquant contrast 
in the vast expanse of garden land. The Laguna 
in the Botanical Garden is situated in so shel- 
tered a place that it affords reflected pictures 
of its architectural surroundings all day long, 
and its name, Laguna de Espejo, Mirror Lake, 
soon becomes justified to the visitor. It has all 
the characteristics of a formal Spanish pool. 
Rectangular in shape, of good proportion, it is 
surrounded by a narrow strip of lawn. Broad 
walks lead all around, offering many oppor- 
tunities for rest in amply provided benches. 
The Laguna itself is almost devoid of aquatic 
plant life, in contrast with its adjoining neighbor 
the Lagunita, which continues the pool, being 
really only a smaller part of it on the other side 
of the east and west axis of the Botanical Garden 
in front of the Botanical Building. The Lagu- 
nita is alive with the growth of all sorts of 
Nymphcea. Lilies of all colors have found here 
a congenial place, sending forth their best flower 
effects. There is the pure white with yellow 
center, the pure yellow, the light and dark pink, 
ranging into darker reds. Pale and dark purple 
are also in evidence, and one concludes once 
more that as soon as one has made the reassuring 
discovery that there is one plant which occurs 
in one color only, in pure white, one has to learn 
that nature's playfulness will not tolerate such 
limited range of color in one flower. The 
Lagunita is full of goldfish which thrive under 
the sheltering shades of the expansive leaves of 
the mysterious pond-lilies. 

Before entering the Botanical Building, two 
[70] 




THE FOOD PRODUCTS BUILDING, SEEN FROM THE REAR OF THE 
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COUNTIES BUILDING 



THE GARDEN ASPECTS 
fountain bowls at either end of the central path 
become increasingly interesting, largely by their 
grotesquely shaped Baroque fountain heads. 
The Pan motif is here used once more, in a 
quadrangle combination of the grinning gro- 
tesqueness of the ruler of buUrushes and reeds. 
The only strictly classic bit of architecture has 
once more been used in the pergola at the west 
end. It is the same as in the Montezuma Gar- 
den and it arouses curiosity again on account of 
its strictly Greek note. The Botanical Building 
resolves itself into a real joke. One imme- 
diately discovers that the raison d'etre for most 
Botanical buildings does not exist here. One 
observes that there is no difference whatever 
between the luxurious growth of the gardens 
everywhere in the Exposition and the carefully 
tended growth within the building. What seems 
at first to be a sheltering roof turns out to be a 
lattice roof admitting light and air of the same 
kind one finds without. A Botanical Building 
in San Diego is a joke. I cannot help it. A 
climate which will produce Poinsettias, the 
tender Bignonias, the Begonia, and the Bougain- 
villea in such profusion outdoors surely needs 
no sheltered buildings to produce an array of 
flowers, all kinds of palms, and trees which do 
equally well outside. I could not help pitying 
all those incarcerated flowers, which seemed as 
if confined in a hospital for observation. The 
Cocos palm does not seem any grander here than 
outside and the majestic rubber-tree does not 
send out its branches, with large-lobed leaves, 
any more vigorously than in the open. Even 
the Strelitzia I have seen at San Diego doing 

[71] 



THE GARDEN ASPECTS 

just as well as here under a bower of wooden 
lath. Its peculiarly shaped spike of blue flowers 
explains vividly its popular name, "Bird of 
Paradise." 

On closer investigation one discovers the 
smaller part of the house given over to the 
heated atmosphere of tropical plant life. Here 
we meet the rare children of the tropics, with a 
humid atmosphere for their existence. A rare 
line of Vitis utilis is twining along the steel 
beams, sending down its aerial roots into the 
lukewarm waters of the pool. Here and there 
these roots hang so closely as to give the effect 
of a portiere. Then here are the many rare 
ferns, like the elkhorn ferns and the large per- 
forated leaves of a plant named Monstera 
deliciosa, the "delicious monster." It also has 
aerial roots and a most decided tropical appear- 
ance, and the fruit is said to be delicious, if one 
may believe it of a monster. Another plant 
attracting attention is the climbing fern of 
Japan. It is a splendid climber, and here it 
makes a fine showing. In the pool an aquatic 
plant with finely cut leaves floats in many 
places. It is burdened with a most formidable 
botanical name — Myriopyllum Proserpinacoides. 
In spite of Proserpina's participation in the 
botanical name, it is called Parrot's feather for 
short. One soon gets a longing to be relieved 
of the enervating, heated air of the artificially 
produced tropical atmosphere and to be out 
again in the open, which is only a short step. 

To the student of plant life there is no end of 
pleasure in San Diego. Back of the Botanical 
Building stands, amidst tropical surroundings, 

[72] 




THE PERGOLA IN THE BOTANICAL GARDEN 



THE GARDEN ASPECTS 

a Japanese Tea House. The type is always so 
very well preserved in these quaint and intimate 
expressions of a wonderfully artistic people. No 
matter where one goes, no matter in what climes, 
in Europe or in America, one always has the 
feeling that the guiding spirit behind this pavil- 
ion is one and the same influence, and possibly 
it is, since many of the important features are 
the result of religious and other ideas based on 
sentiment. The stone lanterns, the high-arched 
bridge, the bronze crane, are all suggestive of 
the fact that it is not alone their decorative 
effect but the story they tell which demands 
their presence. Everything is in the right place 
and placed in such a way as to give the best 
effect. It is indeed marvelous to study the 
apparent irregularity and disorder of a Japanese 
garden and to discover that its arrangement is 
order in the best sense. Every path leads some- 
where and never more than once to the same 
spot. Curving and recurving, they open vistas 
that one cannot help but notice, always created 
with fine regard for light and background. No 
matter how recent such a Japanese garden may 
be — like the one here — it has at once the 
appearance of having been in existence for a 
long time. Every space has its suitable occu- 
pant, and while there is an immense variety of 
different plants in them, they are never fussy. 
The use of water is equally successful, for 
example, in their clever and convincing imitation 
of the entire course of a stream, from the remote 
mountain spring to the inland lake, animated 
by many grotesquely shaped goldfish. In the 
curious forms of the goldfish the Japanese mind 

[73] 



THE GARDEN ASPECTS 

expresses its experimenting genius, which runs 
through all Japanese activities. 

From the intimate character of the Japanese 
garden we eventually reach, through a sheltered 
path between the Cafe Cristobal and the Food 
Products Building, a large open square given 
. over entirely to a formal garden effect. Devoted 
to flowers exclusively, it is a very gay spot at all 
seasons. Roses in early summer, later on 
Penstemon and Canterbury Bells, furnish great 
beds of color. This is a more spectacular spot 
in the Exposition picture, and those who long 
for absolute quiet, for a "buen retiro," must 
follow the driveway "El Paseo," which leads 
to the south gate. Here we find the Pepper 
Grove, which to the easterner has more charm 
than to the Californian, who is well acquainted 
with the unmanageable forms of this delicately 
leaved tree. The Pepper Grove offers absolute 
quiet and plenty of shade where one can rest, 
or move over to the edge and bask in the sun 
and inhale the refreshing breezes which blow in 
from the sea. 

Soon the sun will have dipped into the ocean 
behind Point Loma, and the Exposition presents 
itself at night in a new appeal. There is no 
new experimentation in evidence here in the 
field of lighting. The historical style so consis- 
tently followed demanded lantern brackets and 
visible sources of light, which have all been 
distributed without any effect of confusion or 
annoyance. The Exposition at night, with a 
black-blue sky above, is full of mystery and 
enchantment. The long, low-ceilinged arcades 
seem twice as long at night, in their endless 

[74] 




THE PAN FOUNTAIN 



THE GARDEN ASPECTS 

rhythm of arches. Shadows are everywhere, 
but never a feeUng of unsafeness steals upon one. 
The heavy ornamentation of the buildings casts 
curious shadow-faces on the walls and the 
deeply-set windows become dark notes on the 
large open surfaces. It is the picture of a 
mediaeval city rather than of a modern Expo- 
sition. One looks for figures in historical dress, 
for Romeos and Juliets, but they do not appear, 
and the modern lover and his lady fair furnish 
many conventional substitutes. It is a fine 
place to be at night, since the problem of a safe 
return to the city through undesirable quarters 
does not exist. A broad thread of light leads 
back your way to the city by the sea. The 
great tower is a blaze of light, reaching boldly 
into the sky, not only for this but for all future 
generations. 

It is this thought which controls one's mind 
in speculating whether it was worth while to 
make this effort, single-handed, so to speak. It 
was worth while — not only for the enormous 
dignity of the undertaking but also for its 
educational value to the lay masses. Even if 
the less permanent buildings are eventually 
removed and their ground areas filled in with 
landscape gardens, the beauty of the ensemble 
will suffer little. The California Quadrangle 
alone, the structure alike most successful and 
most conspicuous, will give a lasting interest to 
this great permanent park. Every avenue will 
have some permanent emphasis, like the great 
Organ, and further up the Laguna the Botanical 
Garden scheme. It is a very pleasing thought 
of the San Diego of the future with its ever- 

[75] 



THE GARDEN ASPECTS 

growing development entirely encircling this 
great garden spot we now admire as an Expo- 
sition. One by one I hope to see such buildings 
as the Sacramento Valley Building replaced just 
as they stand today, in permanent material, to 
satisfy the growing need for Museum Buildings. 
One by one I hope to see many of them replaced 
to demonstrate the permanent value of the art 
of the city planner, which is so convincing here 
in its practical and aesthetic aspects alike. 

San Diego may well be proud of her accom- 
plishments, achieved out of the strength of her 
own resources. During the year 1916 much of 
what seemed new and crude will become toned 
down by the mellowing influence of the elements, 
and her flora will jubilantly blossom forth again. 
The Bougainvilleas will send out again their 
myriads of gaily colored flower bracts. The 
Bignonia will again seem to crush the arcades 
under the wealth of their masses of flowers. 
Again the pigeons will encircle the plaza in 
happy abandon, augmented by the cautious 
flocks of their new broods — all sure of suste- 
nance and protection. The atmosphere of san- 
guine Spanish life will prevail, under the same 
skies which led Father Serra to feel at home in 
a new country full of promise and danger alike. 
The effect of the Exposition, in a country 
scarcely shaped into a permanent type, cannot 
but yield the benefits of this revival of an old, 
impressive civilization. The San Diego Expo- 
sition will not have been a mere celebration. 
It will be considered a milestone in the civili- 
zation of the West. 

[76] 



APPENDIX 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



Allen, Frank P., Jr., 



Goodhue, Bertram 
Grosvenor, 

MoRLEY, John, 
Olmsted, John, 

PiCCIRILLI, FURIO, 
PiCCIRILLI, AtTILIO, 

PiCCIRILLI, Thomas, 
PiCCIRILLI, Horatio, 

PiCCIRILLI, SeTALIO, 

Stewart, Humphrey 
John, 

Winslow, Carleton 
Monroe, 



(Architect) San Diego. Born in Grand Rap- 
ids, Michigan, 1876. Educated at the Univer- 
sity of Michigan. Director of Works. The 
laying out and construction of the buildings 
and grounds outside of the California Quad- 
rangle. 

(Architect) New York. Born at Pomfort, ' 
Connecticut, 1869. Studied at home and 
abroad. Supervising and Consulting Architect 
of the Exposition. The California Quadrangle. 

(Landscape Engineer) San Diego. Born in 
Scotland. Superintendent of Parks. 

(Landscape Architect) Brookline, Massa- 
chusetts. Born at Geneva, Switzerland, of 
American parents, 1852. Studied at Yale and 
with Frederic Law Olmsted. Consulting 
Landscape Architect. 

(Sculptor) New York. Born in Massa, Italy, 
1868. Studied abroad. The sculptural archi- 
tectural decorations of the Exposition in collab- 
oration with his brothers. 

(Sculptor) New York. Born in Massa, Italy, 
1866. Studied abroad. 

(Sculptor) New York. Born in Massa, Italy, 
1876. Studied in the United States. 

(Sculptor) New York. Born in Massa, Italy, 
1878. Studied in the United States. 

(Sculptor) New York. Born in Massa, Italy, 
1880. Studied in the United States. 

(Musician and Composer) San Diego. Bom 
London, 1856. Studied abroad. Exposition 
Organist. 

(Architect) San Diego. Born Damariscotta, 
Maine, 1876. Studied abroad. Resident 
Architect representing Mr. Goodhue. Super- 
intendent of Construction of the California 
Quadrangle. 



[79] 







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THE SAN DIEGO GARDEN FAIR BY EUGEN 
NEUHAUS, PUBLISHED BY PAUL ELDER & 
COMPANY, SAN FRANCISCO, WAS PRINTED 
AT THEIR TOMOYE PRESS UNDER THE 
DIRECTION OF H. A. FUNKE, IN MARCH, 
NINETEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTEEN 



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